School Committee Meeting - 9/25/2025

001[Music] Uh, good evening, Hollist. Welcome to the September 25th Hollist School Committee meeting. You know where the There's an echoes at you. Okay. Um, we're going to get started. Um, we're going to move the agenda on just a slight bit to um, accommodate a couple things, but we'll start with our student represent. Um, so we've had a few busy days in the school, so no official meeting for student advisory council today, but um, we compiled we still compiled some things that have been going on in the Hollison High School school community. >> Um, so far going on um during DSP, which is why we couldn't have our meeting, um, is some college admissions officer meetings, as there is every year, um, and workshops to help with the college application process. um focusing on like essays

002and additional application materials and um also just like an example today Tus University and Fitchburg State University visited um for some news about the student advisory council. Elijah Vera Green and Ethan Shahida were elected as the new Central Massachusetts regional student advisory council representatives. Mouthful. Soon they will begin meeting with the other regional representatives from across central Mass to begin tackling issues facing our schools including um mental health, school connectedness, and possibly school safety. Um so the school club fair took place last Thursday. Um again, an annual event where students came down to the cafeteria to see clubs, um join groups of students with similar interests. Um it was the first time for many where they were able to like step out of their comfort zone, try something new. and we have um like STEM

003focused clubs, community service clubs, and most students walked away signing up for multiple groups. >> And then on the following Saturday, many organizations um took part in Celebrate Hollist. So, student volunteers, clubs, sports, and classes all had booths and there was a lot of a lot of successful fundraising and community outreach and these clubs showcase the vibrant and diverse community that HHS is. Um so then we have some notes for sports or and individual athletes. So coming up tomorrow, field hockey has their senior night. Um kicking off the rest of the senior nights for the fall season and some um notable student athletes kind of keeping it going from last meeting. Um senior Andrew Grafford is on the soccer team. Um was recognized by Metro West Daily News. Um I think he had something like

00411 goals in three games, which is very impressive. And um also freshman Lucy Downin from cross country um was nominated for girls athlete of the week for Metro West Daily News. >> And then um the HDAC youth action team fundraiser was a success um two Fridays ago at the home football game against Lincoln Sudbury. And then to close out back to clubs um many clubs um after the club fair have started their first meetings and are getting started on their projects or their community service for the year. That's all we have. >> Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. Um we will move on quickly to the consent agenda. We just have >> Go ahead. Just a minute. >> Motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Second. >> All in favor? That passes. Um and then

005we're going to hop over to public comment. Um I did want to before we started with public comment just remind the community um our meetings are we follow the open meeting law for Massachusetts and our meetings are open to the public. People are welcome to come and listen to everything that we're doing. Um we are transparent and you can understand the decisions that we're making. We talk about how we make our decisions at these meetings. Um we have the public comment is a specific time on our agenda when the public is invited to make statements. Um we generally don't get into an interaction back and forth. It's not a discussion. It's um people are welcome to come and make their um their share their thoughts and concerns with us. Um but then once public comment

006is over, we move on with our agenda. We have a lot of things that we need to cover at each meeting and it's important that we can stay on the agenda. So, this is our public comment time. We do have um Barb Warby is would like to come and make a comment and we're happy to hear you. So, thank you for coming. >> Thanks, Sarah. Um, so I have um a comment. Um, I'm speaking on behalf of the diverse Hollist group tonight. Um, and then after that I'm speaking on behalf of an individual that asked me to share a comment who wasn't able to be here or log on remotely. Um, so I wanted to share that um, you know, with the community that diverse Hollison's been communicating with the school committee over the past

007week or so via email regarding the superintendent search process. Um, and we wanted to share publicly our last communication with the school committee, just kind of submit it for public record. Um, so we had shared some thoughts in an email back and forth. And we just wanted to reiterate that the questions posed in our last email. Um, and the requirements for the qualities of the next superintendent are actually not our ideas, but they're rather what the town of Hollist has committed to in the district's 2022 to 2027 strategic plan. um the strategic plan, you know, based on the values by the community members in Hollist um and that the school committee is bound to ensure that the these criteria are upheld when choosing the new superintendent. Um and so those two the two arches um

008social emotional well-being use utilizing an equity lens to develop data-driven action steps that foster and enrich student staff experiences and address inequities. Um, arch number three, teaching and learning. Um, examine and address curricular needs PK through 12 plus vertical and state alignment, bias, equity, inclusion, and diversity of all curricula. Utilize equity and audit data, equity audit data to further augment. Um and so you know beyond that um you know it's the job of the school committee to make sure that we use the qualitative and quantitative data that already exists about practices in Hollist school system which are obtained during the Hollist public schools equity audit report. Um these specific data identify the gaps in equity that need to be addressed. Um, and so now the school committee is tasked with ensuring that the strategic plan

009and the equity audit report are at the center of the consulting firm's work with whomever you decide to hire. The recommendations the consultant makes should include the mechanisms by which you will find and hire a superintendent who has experience and expertise addressing the specific gaps in equity that were highlighted in the public schools equity audit report. So, as a followup, we're going to be meeting with our liaison Hillary and Joe to further discuss this. Um, and we'd also like to share our thoughts with them on how you might leverage the expertise already present in our community as another valuable resource to tap into, which wouldn't require any additional budgetary approval. So, thank you. That's that's from me from Dorse Hston. Um, I want to read some words from Kevin Far. Um he is at 205

010Central Street. Um Kevin is the husband of the late D Fair um who is an important member of our diverse Hollist team who passed away um about almost a year ago. Um so Kevin asked me to to bring this you know up tonight. D asked a question a few years ago at a school committee meeting um and that was what specifically the district planned to do in order to attract and retain a more diverse group of teachers. Um and based on you know DE's experience being that the response was light and specifics. D believe believed that it to be empty words and that hiring a more diverse staff was not actually a priority for the district. Um, and she believed uh her her belief appeared to be supported when the district chose not to renew

011the contract of one of the few and maybe only non-white teachers. Um, and Kevin said that he believed that the stated reason for this was budget reasons. Kevin saw further evidence at the Miller open house this year when all the teachers and other staff were standing in front of the parents and they all appeared to be white. Kevin's children are of mixed race and would not see themselves reflected in the staff at Miller. So Kevin says, "If I were there tonight, I would ask the school committee to begin to take hiring a more diverse staff seriously and to make taking that goal seriously a requirement of the next superintendent. I'd suggest they find a way to make the superintendent accountable for an actual plan. As an alternative, if a more diverse staff will continue to

012be a low priority goal, I'd hope we can see some honesty around that instead of further lip service to the idea. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Okay. Is there anyone on Zoom that wanted to No, they're all up. Yeah. >> Okay. All right. At this point, public comment is over and we are going to jump around again and have Jeriel um Bernay give us a presentation on safe and supportive schools. [Music] All right. [Music] Don't speak now. All right, we're good. All right. Um, hi everyone. Um, well, my name is Gerald Renee. Uh, thank you guys for Thank you school committee for uh taking um me out of order a little bit. Um, I apologize if I sound um a little bit stuffed. I'm a little bit sick uh

013today. Um so I'm going to try my best, but hopefully I deliver uh my presentation with uh vigor uh in the passion I usually do. So the presentation today is meant to um talk a little bit about where we going this school year. Um usually this presentation dovetales where we ended. Um, and it really speaks about where did we end last year, where are we going this year, and it really kind of usually tends to highlight what you're going to hear in October. So, the reason I usually present in September is because I usually am a precursor to the presentations that you'll hear in October, which are the presentations from each of the schools. Um, because my work, and I often say my work is usually the school's work. my I'm here in in in

014many ways to support our schools to support what our schools do on a daily basis and that is safe and support of schools safe and support of schools um that is seen embedded in Arch 2. So um what does that look like and what does that look like this year? So I figured why not put food in front of you um at 6 at 7 something p.m. when everybody's hungry. But um I thought it was a good metaphor for where are we going this year? And so last year you heard me talk about integration. So in and the reason we are going in integration and the reason I have a a crock pot a stew a beef stew in front of you is because in many ways what this work is is talk talking about

015the flavors that make up safe and supportive schools right so it's seal it's things like PBIS it's things like uh inclusion culturally affirming practices trauma sensitive practices mental health and there's additional things that you might hear that might be school specific speific. But at any point when you're making a let's say beef stew or any recipe, you can overs salt it, undersalt it, add flavors, too much of this, too much of that. And at any point you can tip the balance, right? There is no perfect recipe. But part of what this work calls us to do is to constantly work at trying to get the flavor right. And that's what integration work is. There is no manual. There is no perfect um textbook that you can open that says you add four fifths of this,

016you do exactly three PDs of this, you add two things of this, now you do three repetitions of this, and now you got the perfect makeup of exactly how every kid's going to feel perfectly in every classroom. That's not how this work happens. It happens by doing PD. It happens by looking at data. It happens by engaging teachers, by engaging families, by getting feedback, by saying, you know what, that didn't work. Let's come back at that at that again. You know what? This works down here, but it doesn't work at this level. Let's try something different. And to be honest, the flavor at one level may not be the flavor they need at a different level. So, every school might have a different flavor as well. So, in many ways, I thought, why not put

017food in front of us? We're all hungry. But I thought this was like a perfect metaphor for what this work calls us to do to build different stews in different places of the flavors that we're trying to put together and get a right balance happening at every school. So that's where we're headed this year. So and one of the things you've heard me also talk about as we headed um last year was this works about integration, sustainability, and adaptation. And why those three things is because and you'll hear me talk a little about this towards the end of the presentation is that we want to start moving from a model that is based on necessarily state or federal funding or from a model that is based onmies or professional development to a model that is

018about sustainability over time to a model that's about integration that you've already heard me start talking about and one that is about an adaptation and adaptation. What that calls us to do is the ability on the ground level for every school to be able to adapt whatever is h whatever they need to adapt that feels real, right? That feels real to them and that is based behind the premise of continuous improvement. Now, continuous improvement is this concept that has always been around in our field of education. It might feel just like a common term but in the field of education it's it's a it it's a heavy term and the reason why is because it's it's all it does tail another term which is called accountability and accountability for many people feels heavy and has

019a lot of negative con connotations and the reason I put them together is because where we want to move towards is this feeling of constant improve continuous improvement where it feels great to be in this space where we can always be talking about how do we get a little better and where do we want to improve on and that it's okay to just have those conversations but that it but when we have those conversations it's not about this conversation of accountability where people feel like so are you saying it's bad or are you saying it's good that work isn't about good or bad it's about how do we get better it's a shift in mindset in how we talk about this work right So I want to call out that this work needs to be

020moving towards let's always be in a space of continuous improvement. But in order to do that that's where people need to feel that sense of we want to be in a space where people feel adaptation is possible at the ground level. So as we shifted into this year this this year is a year where we we're going to be continuing the momentum that you heard about last year. Right. And I'm I'm going to be sharing some data uh in the coming slides that I was super pumped about and I was already pumped about it last year where I shared with you some of our chronic absenteeism gains. And of course the state has been when we came out of COVID the state was panicking about across the nation across the state about chronic absenteeism because

021to be honest chronic absenteeism is one of those data points that has so many implications to where our adolescence end up in later in life and I was really pumped about what we had done in a a year ago but we have continued to show those gains here in Hollist. But where are we moving towards this year? We're going to continue to continue that momentum. We're going to continue to move continue to meet with that um uh saving and supportive leadership board that I shared with you that had made up that had people from every single building that had educators, counselors, school psychologists, administrators. They were helping guide if you remember that uh m Posh of like um logic model that had all those stickies on it. um they created our three to five year

022vision of where safe and supporters safe and supportive schools was going to go. Well, one of the things that I'm doing with a student who's helping me build it is we're building a student council that's going to help provide feedback to me, additional feedback from students around how is it feeling like at the student side, right? Because as adults we can think about how's it feeling on the adult side but I also want student fe feedback because at the same s at the same time I want students to give me input about what this work feels like. [Music] Um one of the things we started working with at the high school is the the Rams has created huge energy around student um student leadership work. Right. Last year they shared they had almost 80 students

023engaged in student um student leadership work. Well, one of the things we started working over here at the high school is how are they going to receive those students and where can they where can they connect those students that they're going to start receiving year after year and where can they plug them into? What are going to be the leadership opportunities here at the high school that they can connect them to? Right? So that's going to be the next step of the work that's going to start happening here is that David Liss is thinking about is where can they connect these students to leadership opportunities here at the high school. And then one of the pieces that I'm shifting um not shifting like abandoning but shifting in the sense of that I'm thinking about is

024I want to make sure as I continue on this year is that I'm not only building our district teams but each of each of our schools have already had reciprocal teams. So when I say reciprocal teams, even though I call my district team a safe and supportive district team, each of our schools have teams. They may call them something different. Just like they might call their beef stew grandma's beef stew or my uncle's beef stew, they may call it a different name, right? Like at Miller they call it a climate and culture team at Plasantino. They may call it a different team, but each of them have a a a a team that does in essence the same work. Part of my work is also going to be working with those teams to make sure

025that those teams feel extremely strong because as we head into the future, funding is shifting across the state and I want to make sure that they feel that they have the resources and the strength at each of those buildings for that adaptation. and if they need to shift those things that they feel they have the strength to make those decisions at the building level for those systems to continue to move because they've put a lot of time and energy at the tier onecl level and at the climate and culture level to make those decisions because we're seeing the gains at the building level. So, one of the pieces that's going to be happening this year, um, the Metro West adolescent health survey is going to be happening later this fall at Rams and the high

026school. So, we're going to be having a new batch of data come to us this spring, which means I've already started working with some of our partners to make sure that we have we're ready to not only receive it, but to jump into be doing some data dives, to start thinking about once we get it, how are we going to take action on that data and to do it early. [Music] Additionally, we have continued to see gains. We have now within two years, we our chronic amputes has dropped 6.2%. which is significant to be moving data in that percentage because chronicism is a multi-pronged issue. So let's look at a deeper way of what that data looks like. So this is a multi-year graph as to what uh how that chronic absism has shifted. So

027uh right before CO happened 2019 2020 um our where the blue line we were at 9%. Now I will say um that 9% was most likely under reportported because one of the things that has been documented was that right around that time um our state has started shifting the way we were reporting data. For instance um they were tightening up across the state. if you dismissed your kid at a certain time that may not have been reported as an absence or the way we were recording absences weren't all being recorded accurately because the year before that we were at 7%. So nothing shifted but as soon as we started tightening up things there was a 2% shift just because we started shifting the way we were recording in our systems. So COVID occurs we jumped

028to 16%. So for two years when we were going through this this COVID time we were 16% 16.7 at 2023 is when that um task force occurred we started meeting as a team we started looking at data as a team um every team is part of this chronic epsen task force we're looking at data every team is teaming on a monthly basis they're looking at kids together they're meeting with families they are um making sure that we're following the procedures and protocols that we have in place because one of the things we noticed when we started talking is that even though we have a protocol and a process, every school interpreted it slightly differently because we weren't teaming together. We weren't planning together. And once we started doing that, we saw a dramatic shift right

029from 16.7 to 12.2 do and then we continue to see that shift continue to go downwards and which to me continues to speak to not only the power of teaming but in order for that for that data to shift downwards it's not just because we're teaming it's because there's a lot of systems happening it's not just because people get in the room and talk it's because you're creating the conditions around students for that to be successful right students are feeling most likely more positive about coming to school people are reaching out working with families in different ways. People are looking at the data and reaching out to families, talking to families. Families are probably more likely, they know about the data. They know their kids are missing more frequently and they're engaging with school differently.

030But then also, let's look at some of the subgroups. Every single subgroup has positively shifted downwards as well. Right? So, one of the things that I also wanted to see as well is that right, it's not just about the whole group. Now granted there is still significant work to move right because across the board right and this is where the equity work equally speaks to right we still see inequities in this data but it still tells us that we are still moving the work in a positive direction but we still need to make sure that we are engaging in this work and you've heard our schools talk about right that they themselves are working within the way they engage our EL students and in their classrooms, the way they're supporting our um high need students,

031the way they're supporting their students with disabilities even in their academic settings, right? So, the better we get across the board in supporting our students, it equally will have impacts in the way that we, you know, students attend school just as well. But positively, I'm happy to report that across the board over the past two years, all of our subgroups have equally shown that same decrease across the board. The other piece is in in that responding to data um is that we're doing professional development for um for the past few years we've been doing professional development for our SSP members um which are school counselors and psychologists etc. um around rising anxiety. Um we've done um as you heard me do last year um executive skills anxiety PD for the community. Um we also did

032um a professional development around cyber safety for the community as well. Um I think we're going to do that as well. There's also going to be coming out soon I believe hidden in plain sight again which was another community event that happened and was wellreceived as well. Um, one of the things that, and I'm not sure if it was, I think it was reported out here, we partner with HDC, which is part of policy family services. They also have seen uh decreases in substance abuse data as well in Hollist, uh, and some of their data as well. Um, so we're hoping to continue to see the same trends, but the Metro West adolescent health survey also looks at that as well. So that data set is also going to be another kind of like cross

033indicator to see if we've continued to see those same trends. Um the the vaping data is one that they've been focused on as well. Um and we're we're interested to see if we've seen any impact on that because they've been really focused on some of that outreach uh on the htac side. Uh and then one of the things that we had launched about a year and a half ago that I think has had very positive impact is our coordination with our police department around handle with care uh and really um having more communication with our police department to make sure that um our schools are able to support students um in a more meaningful way. Um so I've spoken a lot about just some you know throughout what are our priorities this year. Um, one

034of the things that I think you're going to hear from our schools, um, especially Miller and Plantino, we, um, spent a lot of summertime integrating the PBIS and ruler lessons so they don't feel separate, but they feel integrated. Um, they really push their curriculum, um, their lessons further along. Um, so that their, uh, tier one lessons have really developed um, way past where they were this year, right? So, they haven't planned out further into this school year. So, I think that's been a a pretty big development. Um, we're working with a consultant with SSP members um to coordinate around absenteeism and anxiety because one of the things that we've seen um is that one of the one of the things that we're seeing with some of our small percentage um with some of our more

035chronic absenteeism is there's a there's a correlation between anxiety and absenteeism um in a small percentage of students. Um, and we're trying to think about how we support some of our um, staff members to kind of support students in that area. Um, and we're going to continue to expand our family engagement opportunities in those spaces, right? Because one of the things that we saw, especially from our executive skills, is that our families are also wondering how they can support their kids too. Um, because our feedback was give us more, especially in this area. our families are wondering especially when kids are more connected to their digital devices how they can support their kids um in this era um when there's this cross-sectionality between digital device mental health and how do I talk to my kid

036um so we're thinking about how do we engage more with that um and then the last piece that I wanted to share um is and this isn't this slide isn't about what it is I do it's more about How do we meet with people? And so this slide is just these are all the different things and different teaming that we do. So and and I haven't really talked about this. So one of the things for instance that we do is that we have a safety committee. So at the district level um one of the things I co-lead is a a district safety committee which is the fire chief, the police chief, an administrator from every building uh and some representatives here. And one of the things we do on a monthly basis is we talk

037about all the safety needs of the district. Uh we talk about the drills, we talk about intruder drills and those things. Um and we actually like plan out and talk about what are the gaps. So that happens on a monthly basis. Um one of the things that's be happening this year is that um our Holl coalition hat and bias is going to be transitioning to myself and Jackie Winer. Um and we're going to be now for the next two years taking that over. Um SSP meeting, you've heard me talk about that. So um that's the it's like a PLC model where although we have PD, but SSP is where like we have a PLC model with all counselors, school psychologist, school counselors where we meet and we have a opportunity where they get to kind

038of nuts and bolts and support all the opportunities that we do. Um the district safe and supportive leadership team is what I've shared with you before where all of those members from across the district get together um and we talk about where we're going with this work. Um the other thing that I wanted to share is for instance two years ago um I sit on the um safe and supportive schools commission that was it's a desi state board and just today I was doing a presentation on the Holl public schools on the work we're doing and although um that's not a piece where I bring in educators I get to uplift Hollist and so today I was talking about the work we're doing here in Hollist um and it's a board it's a state board

039so um we get to uplift the work that we do here and then um creating a student board where students are going to be meeting to provide feedback on the work. So I just wanted to share because a lot of the work you hear me present I just present what the work is but these are the spaces where the work happens in right so this is where this is how the work happens it's it's it's pulling these pieces together in these spaces um throughout the year four or five times a year in different opportunities um and then there's other opportunities right um there's the wellness committees where they'll talk about different things that Dr. Costa runs. There's HDAC that we participate in where we'll talk about substance abuse in that data. Um, and there's a

040few other opportunities. So, those are the kind of really the places where we'll often talk about the work that it happens. And then last piece that you've heard me talk about, I had a grant last year that supported a lot of this PD. Um, it was for about $100,000. It was cut by 63%. Um, so this year it's right around 35,000 where rest this part to be honest, what it's going to support is probably some people providing some support here and there outside of school hours to like be able to meet with me to do some stuff here and there. Um, maybe some teaming opportunities, some small PD that I can provide to people if I bring people in or things like that. But this would the the grant is not tied up to what

041we would say is like um some of those hot button issues. It's not tied up to like the things that were typically being cut federally. Um it's it was a it was a grant that was mental health. Um and for no reason it was slashed by 60s something percent. Right? So I just wanted to raise that up which is why I was saying I'm my focus this year is about sustainability. Right? because for my four years there was here, there was never a concern from any of the funding that I was able to find and go get, it was steady and I could support this work and I knew that I could when counselors were like, "Hey, Jerry, can we have funding for this?" And I can always find it. I'm not so sure if

042that's going to be continu continuing. So, I'm I my work is going to be about how do I make sure that the people of the schools feel that they have either what they need or that they have necessarily the capacity to be like I can move it on my own, right? Um because the funding across the state may not be there or that or or I can't rely on it in a meaningful way. Um so, you know, I wanted to make sure that you guys kind of saw or at least you know, understood that piece. Um, and you know the last piece is and sometimes I hear it and I just wanted to reiterate for the community when I say safe and supportive schools I know you guys know this cuz I say it over

043and over it's not an initiative right it's not like we're doing safe schools it's more of it's a way of being right like the purpose is like we want schools that feel this way that act this way that understand the work is right toward it's the work is being safe supportive it's where kids experience this it's not an initiative right it's it's all these things coming together so schools experience safe and supportive. Um, so I just wanted to say that out loud for whoever's watching, etc. Um, and that it's really about continuous improvement and trying to get people to feel that and understand that. And it's not about right and wrong or about perfect because it will never get there. Um, and it's about getting the recipe right. Right. Not too salty, not too bland

044somewhere in the middle. Um, where it's just right. And that was it. Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> So, I I didn't say I was going to tease you. I didn't say >> just put a picture. >> Thank you very much. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you for moving things around. >> I hope you feel better. >> Yes. Feel better, Jeriel. Thanks. Okay. So, um at this point I think we'll switch over to we have a presentation from HYA. >> If you could just let me know who I could give sharing rights to. >> Can we give one of you um access to share your screen and you can be in charge of the slides? Does that work? Which who would be best? Dr. I'll be happy to share my screen. >> Okay,

045I'll make you the co-host. Hang in a second. >> The slide show up. >> You should be all set, Susan. >> Okay. Before I do that, I have to come down here and share. [Music] Okay, [Music] how's that? I can't see all of you because of this screen share, but hopefully you can see my screen right now. >> Yes, we can see you. Thank you so much for coming. >> Oh, thank you so much for having us. We were thrilled when we heard from you that you were asking us to present. And I'm here with two of my colleagues. So, as I said, I'm Dr. Susan Gy. I'll just let the two of them introduce themselves and say hi and we'll tell you a little more about ourselves during the presentation. >> Hi everyone. I'm

046Karen Shaw. Um so happy to be here. Thank you for inviting us tonight. >> Good evening. I'm Doug Shook and like my colleagues, we're thrilled to be here and having the chance to present some information to you about our firm and and possibly partnering with you moving forward. >> Okay. So, um, we'll we'll go through the entire presentation, which we did send a copy to you. So, hopefully you've had a chance to take a look at it and you have some questions prepared for us. We're happy to answer anything. Um, so we'll get started. Let's see. Okay. So, um this is really an incredible opportunity for the um the school committee to take some time and get to know and understand even better their stakeholders views and insights about the school district. Selecting a new

047superintendent can always be um a a a time where kind of people get a little worried, you know, because of change in leadership, but it really is a a wonderful opportunity for the school committee to demonstrate to their constituents exactly how wonderful the school is, learn more about the community, get to know everyone better, and we at HYA are look would love to be your trusted partner in this process. So, you know, as you are aware, superintendent searches create um a buzz and often um members of the community as well as the media will be asking questions. They'll want to know how things are going. And HYA has as a firm incredible experience and a commitment to this entire process. It is the most important decision that the school committee will make. And um you

048know, right now tonight, you'll be selecting a partner who's going to be able to be there with you, stand side by side with you, and if if you would need us to hold your hand throughout the entire process, we are absolutely there for you to the extent that you'd like us to be. So, um and we're 100% committed to the process and to the committee to achieve the goals that they're looking for. And HYA has um is known reputationally to be very thorough and is very highly regarded by committees, boards, and candidates. And I'll let my colleagues jump in at any time if um they'd like to add anything. Okay. So, a little bit about the phone. Karen, do you want to take this slide? Sure. I just want to let everyone know that I

049apologize if I break out. Um I'm having a little bit of internet connection right now so I might zoom out. I apologize but I will I will um let you know a little bit about our firm. So we have been um an executive search firm specifically for education for 35 years. Um we've done over not our team but our organization's done over 2,000 searches about 80 searches per year. We have 130 nationwide associates. um 35% of persons of color, 49% women. It's a woman-owned organization. Um and we really um our nationwide associates are it's just so helpful to have such a broad reach across the country. Um and and we'll talk a little bit about as much as we are nationwide, we are also a local team. So you get the benefit of having that

050um nationwide reach as well as we are would be the local team in the east coast um and understanding the nuances of that. Um we have a 9.4 out of 10 client satisfaction rating. We're always um we always give surveys to everyone after we complete a search or strategic plan see how we're we're doing. We get high ratings on that. Um we have research and analytics. Um, the Equa Group, which is our sister company, does all the research and anal analytics. So, the survey is a researchbased survey, which we'll get into a little bit further. We have a full-time back office and IT staff who helps us with our searches. They're not you don't really interact with them um on a day-to-day basis if if hopefully you choose us. Um, myself, Sue, and Doug would

051be your team, but sometimes you do talk to our back office staff um and they're always involved as well. And we have national, state, and university partnerships. Um so really the infrastructure that results in a board um or school committee in this case search success >> and just so so you know we are a green organization as well. So all of our work is done we use Google and we um share share documents and materials in that way. So it makes it very easy to um to have documents sent back and forth and do it quickly. Okay. So here's a little bit about us. Um I'm senior associate Dr. Susan Gy with HYA. I've been with the firm for quite a number of years since I retired from the superintendency. I was a superintendent for

05210 years and uh helped the district go through some major restructuring. I have a doctorate in leadership from Columbia University Teachers College and I'm really passionate about learning and leading. I was a classroom teacher. I worked my way up through the through a school system K through 12 district taught every grade level. And I also volunteer uh at Steer, which is a um a nonfor-profit organization that helps underprivileged students really uh do their best and really achieve um success through um through athletics and academics, which is um I'm really thrilled to be part of that group. And I'll let Karen and Doug introduce themselves. As I said before, my name is Karen Shaw and I am a former school board member, board president in Morristown, New Jersey. Um, the school board, as you know, is

053similar to your school committee. I like to say I retired after I was the president during the pandemic. Um, as you all know, that was a very stressful time for boards, for districts, for everyone. Um, but I really, um, I am passionate about public education. I had such a great experience working with HYA. Um, we use them for our superintendent searches and for our strategic plan. And I really wanted to join HA to help school districts navigate finding um, superintendent, strategic planning. Really coming from a school board member or school committee member in your instance point of view like um, and that's what's great about our team. We have superintendents, we have board members. Um, and really knowing how important, as Sue said earlier, this is the most important job the school committee will have

054is to hire a superintendent. And, and it is stressful. Um, and it's really something like we pride ourselves in 24/7 kind of being there for you and really helping through the whole process. Um, superintendent leadership really has a direct impact on your students and it's really important for us to make sure that um, you have the right fit. And once again, my name is Doug Shook. Uh, and my background, uh, like my colleagues, is heavy with involvement in education. I've been a full-time educator for a little over 30 years, been a teacher, been an administrator, and and maybe most uh, relevant to this process we're talking about tonight. Uh I served as a superintendent uh for over 15 years in two different states in Virginia uh and in Connecticut where I reside currently. Uh I

055also have been off and on and currently an adjunct professor uh in uh graduate school programs that help teachers get certified as principles and I'm also currently uh for better or worse a part-time calculus and physics teacher uh at a local high school. Uh, and I think one of the things you get with the three of us is a diversity of experiences. Um, and also a diversity of geographic backgrounds. And and I think if you're going to work with us, as we'll hear later in the presentation, uh, that's going to bring uh, a lot more quality candidates recruited into your process. >> And also on this slide, thanks Seth. Thanks Ken. Also on the slide we have a picture and a mention to our project manager who works out of the back office at HYA.

056Her name is Danielle Martell. She's absolutely phenomenal and she's the person that you would speak with regarding um contracts and billing and if there any other uh larger issues that might need to be resolved on the the contractual front. But we would be your local team. you're the the three of us who are here tonight presenting to you. So the search process really consists of four phases uh engage, recruit, select and transition. And we will go through them in a little bit more detail with um a calendar in the rest of the presentation. Engage is the time when we really get to know your community and what you desire as an organization and what you're looking for in your next leader. Recruit is the time when we will bring to you a slate of candidates

057uh based on the information that we've collected and what we've learned about you. We really want to find the person who's going to be the best fit for you and we pride ourselves on that work and that's why you hire us because we're recruiters and that that's our job. So, we really want to bring you someone who's going to meet that expectation. And there's the select phase uh and we will work with you throughout that phase as you go through the process of interviewing and meeting different individuals to decide upon who is the best match as your next superintendent. And then finally the fourth phase is transition where we're there to support you and your organization and your new leader, your new superintendent as that person comes into the district and takes on that role.

058So regarding the engage phase, we talk when we talk about engagement, we really mean um deep community engagement. Like it says on the slide, we get to know you very well and we want you to get to know us also and feel comfortable and confident in calling us at any time to ask us questions. If you have any concerns, we want you to know that we are there for you. We'll take a look at your mission and vision. We'll ask you lot lots of questions. And importantly, we'll start the process with a planning meeting where we would ask that every member of the committee is there for that meeting with your calendars ready to um do a deep dive into what this search really will look like. And we will map out the entire search

059with you during that planning meeting. We'll set dates and times and events. We'll have have everything mapped out. We'll then also start to interview each member of the committee individually. It's about a 45 minute to an hour interview. All three of us will probably be there for those individual interviews. We'll ask you questions about what do you think are the strengths of the district? What are you proud of? What are some areas where you think there might be some challenges? And then what would you like to see as the characteristics, qualities, areas of expertise for your next leader? And we ask those same three questions to everyone who we sit and meet with and talk to uh throughout the process. We do individual interviews with members of your administrative team. We and uh members of

060your staff. We also do forums for um your teachers, for your uh staff members, for your community members, for parents. We meet with students. We do the focus groups, the forums I mentioned, and um sorry. And the goal of all of this is to put together a leadership profile report. During the time that we're meeting with all of these focus groups, individual interviews, and forums, we also would recommend to you that you do a survey of your stakeholders, of your community. And the uh the survey is a document that is researchbased. Karen mentioned before, it is processed by HYA back in the main office in Illinois. And we have a wonderful report that comes with the survey. We present that with the leadership profile report, which is a summary of everything that we've heard. And

061we've also put together for you um a kind of a a characteristic sheet, a criteria, selection criteria that matches what we've heard and what you're looking for in your next superintendent. So this engage phase we anticipate would take place during the months of October and November of this year. And we set up to start in October because we're already almost at the end of September. So you would have to make your selection of a firm if you started if you decided to go with HYA and we are your team. We would be ready to hit the ground running uh right after that. We set up a time for the planning meeting. We set up those interviews and then we'd work with you to set up all of those focus group meetings and larger interviews and

062community forums. Also happening in October and November as I mentioned be the survey. The survey is an anonymous survey. It's done online. It is accessible on through your district website. So it's open to everyone in the entire community. It comes available in English and Spanish and other languages are available by request. And as I said, you have a wonderful report about that tells you information about the school district as well as about what uh your stakeholders are looking for in uh your next leader. It's also um broken down by uh particular stakeholder group. So, you have some really great information that's provided in the survey that you're able to use to inform some of your decision- making in the district and also to help your new superintendent when he or she comes on board and

063and wants to learn more about the community and some areas that they'd like to dive right into. Karen, Doug, do you want to add anything about the survey or have said so far? Okay, so I'm doing okay. Go ahead, Karen. >> No, I think you're doing great. The one thing about the community engagement I did just want to mention both for the survey um as well as the like community engagement piece. We really try to get to know your community really well because that helps us so much when we're we're the first um glance of all of the candidates and that really helps us. We're really trying to find the right fit for your district. Um, and that really that's why we do such a deep community engagement and we would just say just invite

064everyone for community forums as many people as we can. We like to talk to as many and really understand what's going on in your community. So, I just wanted to reiterate that point. >> Thank you. And you know, another piece that that Bear's mentioning is we like to be as inclusive as possible in this process because um usually what happens is that during the first part when you're when you're selecting or you're interviewing the the committee is really the only group that is doing that having that conversation with candid initial candidates during the initial interview process and that's for a few different reasons. The primary one is that that it's confidential search and one would track the best candidates for you. And many candidates will not come and throw their hat into the ring if

065um they know that it's an open search, especially at the beginning. They know as it gets toward the end when they're a finalist um their name will be out there, but initially they don't want their current school district to know that they're looking for another position. So in this way by getting to know the community so well and engaging them all along this process and through the survey and through the meetings we get so much important feedback from them and we really are able to share with you what everyone is thinking. So, as you start to meet people and you start, like Karen said, with looking for people who are a good match for you, um, you'll know that there's great community input behind that, you'll be able to make some really important decisions, you

066know, with that information in mind. Can I add something quick? And I know for trying to not take too long in the presentation, but you know, as my colleagues have said, uh, we've kind of laid out what what districts and school committees would typically do in this engage phase, but during that planning meeting, you as a school committee would have complete autonomy in directing us to do we do more interviews, do we do more focus groups, do we do more town hall community meetings? Are those in person? Do we do some setup virtually? Because you know your community and you know the people and the individuals and the groups that you want us to connect with. Uh we'll do the work in that space but you will be directing us. So I want to make

067sure you know that we don't just have a cookie cutter way of coming in and at that planning meeting we would get all of those things established. >> Okay. Great. Thank you. All right. So we talked about the presentation with the leadership profile report tentatively. We would aim for your November board of education or your committee meeting. Uh and we suggest that you take the report and the survey report and if you like put it on your district website after the presentation so everyone could take a look at it. We have full transparency on that and um we would love to share that with them. Right after that comes the recruit component, the recruit phase and we recruit in a few different ways. Of course, there's advertising. I mean there are several advertising packages that

068the committee can select from uh and also there are applications. our website, the HYA website has an incredible number of uh visits on a daily basis and people will see because it'll your district will be advertised on the HYA website and people will apply for the position directly there. But most importantly and like I said, this is why you have a recruiter working for you. We you have three experienced recruiters here as your team and we will be going out and searching for people who will be a really great match as your next leader and superintendent. We have national networks we call associates that we work with across the country as well as our local networks in the air in the region. Um we go on in do suggestions. Every group that we speak with

069we ask them do you have anybody you'd like to suggest for the position? We do follow up on those and it is an ongoing process. So as soon as we meet with each member of the committee and have a sense of what you're looking for, we we go straight from there and we start looking and seeing who we might think would be a great fit for you. The next phase is the select phase. We anticipate that that would happen between December and early January 2026. and we would work with the committee on what's called an interview workshop talking about how to conduct interviews, what's involved. We'd work with the committee to prepare questions and then also on setting up those interview sessions and we would suggest a scripted and an unscripted uh session as you

070get to know um the candidates and you start to narrow down the slate that we present to you to some finalists. So during the scripted portion of the interviews, we work with you to set up the questions there. And then the unscripted part would be a time where you'd get to meet with the candidates um in probably a less formal setting, maybe over a meal, over a dinner or a lunch, coffee, and you get to ask them some questions, follow-up questions, uh that may have arisen after you've had the scripted interview with them. We'd suggest you do due diligence either through a third-party company that works with HYA or you could use your um your attorneys to do that work because we definitely would recommend that you always do due diligence. We do some preliminary

071reference checks. Of course, we ask everyone for references and we follow up on all of those references from candidates. And with social media these days, you can um take a look and see if anyone has is out there on social media where they shouldn't be. In addition to that, all pretty much all committees and boards of education are presenting their board of education meetings and events online. So, have a chance to take a look and watch those things online. And then we would aim for you to have an appointment uh in January interview protocols and the deli technique. So they talked a little bit about the best practices about the workshop interview questions and then in terms of selecting we use something called the deli technique. And I'd just like to let my colleagues jump

072in. Do you want to talk a little bit about the deline technique or >> so the deline technique is just a way that we um it it's used to come to consensus um for the school committee and it really is a first impression rating one candidate versus another. The first first thoughts it's really to start the conversation. A lot of times you'll see um candidates will rise to the top or fall to the bottom. It gives you a starting point to start the conversation. Not that you you won't have a conversation about the different candidates, but it really helps bring consensus, first impressions, um helps all voices of the school committee be heard um equally, which I think is important as well. So, we really like to use that technique. Um it's a little tricky

073to figure out at first, but once you figure it out, you're good to go. And we're right there to help you the whole time. >> So, we do help. >> Okay. So why HYA? We want to definitely talk to you about the value that we bring. Not only that my colleagues have mentioned, I've mentioned already um we're there with you as a local team with the national exposure and experience and and network. Um in addition to that, we we provide as incredible communication with you. We want to hear what you'd like in terms of the search and we're there to support you and throughout this entire process. As you can see from the slide, 94% of the superintendent that have been placed through HYA stay full term of their first contract. And that is looking

074at um candidates who are placed over the last 10 years. And in terms of uh superintendent who are placed in searches this those superintendent 75% of them were recruited from HYA associates. So they didn't come through advertising they didn't come through basic applications they definitely came from the recruiting that was done by HYA associates. We have um lots of advantages in terms of our reach about our website our email list. We have an incredible profile system. So we have uh we provide the the board and the committees with um the candidates applications with their cover letters with their resume. We do a very nice package to provide to you that comes through our system. And then we follow up on New York with superintendent and school districts. Everything from strategic planning, equity, executive coaching, and

075we really take the lead on superintendent searches. and we're very proud of the work that we've done and we're very committed to doing that work. You guys want to add anything else? Doug can >> maybe see if they have any questions at this point. >> Sure. That's the end of our um presentation. >> Okay. Thank you. Um does anyone >> have any questions? We're happy to answer them for you. >> I do. >> Yeah. >> Um hi, my name is Joe Peru. from one of the school committee members. Um, one factor I think that cannot be ignored is uh the pricing component. Uh, so I wanted to thank you for submitting your proposal in response to our meet. Um, I did notice on page 16 of the proposal that you could potentially offer a price

076match. Could you speak more about that >> because I HYA is is by far the most expensive option. We understand that in some markets, yes, we are. And um well, first we'd like to say that we bring incredible value and we want you to know that we would earn every penny of that. We do we also do have the price match. So absolutely that's in the that's in the proposal and we stand by it. So we're happy to talk about that with you. Um you had said you are the you are the local team. Does that >> Yes. So um I think in your proposal some of the work is virtual some is in person would >> correct. >> So you would it would be a combination of the two. >> Yes. However you'd like

077it to be. So if I think Doug mentioned before, you know, if you say to us, we'd like to have these community forums in person, then you have members of our team there in person. If not all three of us there for those kinds of things. If there are things that you'd like, you know, that you're okay with doing it over Zoom virtually, we do that as well. Many times we find that um especially for night meetings when we're talking with teachers, administrators, and parents in particular, it's easier on, you know, to do those kinds of things virtually, but it really is up to the committee and whatever you'd like. We we're happy to work with you on any of those. We'll book if we're coming in person, we'll book like one full day or

078two full days and and try to do as many as we can in that period of time, the inperson ones, and then we'll always can rival in. >> That makes sense. Could So your team, how many searches would you be doing at once maximum? >> We all we never do more than two or three searches at one time. And of those searches that we do, we don't do similar school districts. So if we have two districts that are very high performing, enrollment is pretty much the same. We would not take on those searches. We would do one and not the other. Right now, our team, you would be our only search. So we'd be completely focused on you. >> Okay. And and Doug, are you on the Red Sox or Yankee side of Connecticut? That's

079a trick question. I I grew up in Pittsburgh. I'm not even a baseball fan. I'm a Steelers fan. So, >> there you go. >> I hope that doesn't disqualify me. >> I may have earned you a point actually from one of our members. >> Um, >> that's great. >> No, >> what else? >> Um, >> you addressed all of my questions. time. >> J, do you have another >> No, I think because I mean you're talking about how you get to know us and that I think you then answered it by the fact that you're going to meet with each member individually. So, um >> yes, I think >> and we also we give you all our personal cell numbers anytime. I mean, we've been on the phone with the president of a committee like

080at 11:00 at night. They had burned they had a phone call from someone in the community that called us. We answer. If you if you don't get a response from us, you know, within a short period of time, we tell you try us again because one of us will be there for you. Absolutely. You know, we're always there. I have a question about the cost. So, you uh sort of along Joe's question there, you have the price match for your consulting fees, but then you also mentioned the additional cost of ads that the district will pick up and the cost of due diligence. That's in addition to your consulting fees. Correct. >> Correct. Correct. and those, you know, those are at the board's discretion. So, we of course we would highly recommend you do due

081diligence um because, you know, you never should hire anyone without without doing it, honestly. But, um you know, some some districts use their attorney to do that work for them. And we do have a third party that works with us. We don't receive any payment or benefit or anything from them. It's just someone that we we would share with the district and it's up to the district to decide how they'd like to do that and the cost for that. Um, and if you decide, you know, some some committees what they would decide to do is uh meet do the interview process at an outside location outside of the school district to keep it confidential. And if the committee would decide to do that, you know, the cost of that facility, that's up to the district

082to to take care of those kinds of costs. Um but we don't receive anything from that either. And everything that's in that uh price that we gave you that is everything for us. We don't put in for any additional you know payments for every anything. That's totally allincclusive. That's what we give you. Okay. I think that's it. So um thank you so much. We really appreciate you gave us a lot of really good information and good stuff to think about. So, thank you. >> Thank you so much for tonight. >> Thanks so much for having us. >> Hearing from you. >> Thank you. >> Bye. >> Yeah. Okay. >> I know. I saw >> I saw N's here. I don't know where Carolyn went. Okay. Sorry. >> I don't know if you >> Nancy, can

083you hear us? >> It looks like Oh, here's Caroline. >> Okay. [Music] >> Hey, can you hear us? >> I can hear. Hi Karen. >> Thank you. We're running just a little late, so I appreciate you waiting for us to finish. Um, >> that's perfectly fine. >> Thank you for coming. >> But Julie, >> let me know when you'd like. >> Oh, you can. Oh, >> you should have sharing right now. >> Yes. Sorry. Did you say go ahead and start? >> Yeah, you I'm sorry. You can start. Yes. Thank you. Do you have a presentation that you can share >> um >> on your screen? >> Oh, I had sent it ahead of time. I thought that you had that. >> We have it. If it's We just weren't sure if you wanted to

084share it yourself, so you could um paste it. But if you would like us to pull it up, we can do that as well. >> Yeah. Why don't you go ahead and pull it up? I don't want to take any more uh of your time. I I could go in and >> No, that we've got it. Thank you. >> Let me see if I can go in and get it. >> I got it. >> I just just Yep. [Music] >> Okay. Sorry. >> It's fine. [Music] Make sure all sounds. >> Am I the only one getting that feedback that echo? >> Yeah, we're working on it. Sorry. Sorry, Carolyn. >> I'll just wait for your queue. >> I think it's okay. >> I think we're all set. Thank you. Sorry. >> Okay. Well, thank you.

085Thank you very much for inviting NASDAQ here uh to talk to you about your search. I'm very excited um NEZ we all at NASDAQ are very excited to to work with you or the to um have the opportunity to work with you and um if if we are the selected I will be your search consultant. I and a colleague of mine named Imara. I've been uh in education for 30 plus years. I was a teacher and administrator. I've been in special education. I've taught at the college level in the doctoral programs. And for the last 12 plus years, closer to 15 actually, I've been a lead search consultant for NASDAQ. So, I I love the search process. I love it's such an opportunity for the community to come together and it's such a big decision

086for the school committee to make. So, I am I love being a part of it and I love helping school committees make their their best choice. The agenda tonight is is very short and as you requested it's we'll have a brief overview of NASDAQ and um an overview of the superintendent search process and then the majority of the time I'm thinking will be spent in a discussion among us about what it would look like in Hollist, what the search process would be uh like if it were customized for your district. So, we are Nestec is um one of it's a it's called the STU a school study council and it offers comprehensive services throughout New England. We're in all six states. We're very active in all six states and we work with districts around a

087number of different projects. Planning and management is a is a huge issue in districts. Facilities, everyone in in New England is experiencing facilities issues, uh dropping enrollments, growing enrollments, old buildings, a shift in demographics. So, we work around facilities and strategic planning and demographic studies. We do a lot with school committee and superintendent relations and this work keeps us very current in the field. We're in the field and it it's an advantage to our search work because we know administrators in the six states and they know us. Administrators are familiar with us. They come to us when we're in their districts and they talk to us about their law and chart jungles. They talk to us about what they where they see themselves going in their own district or where they see their career going

088in the future. This helps us when it comes time to to do recruitment and to reach out to candidates and candidates will keep an eye on the NASDAQ website to know what's going on and they'll call us and talk about am I a good fit for this one? Do you think this one is a match for me? So, so we're always our search work is intertwined with almost all of the work that we do. Another invaluable aspect of and it's unique to to NESD is that we have a board of 18 superintendent and they're from all six New England states. So, we have and they're very active particularly during search work. They keep they they reach out to potential candidates. They talk with C candidates will call them if they saying you know I'm interested

089in that search or what type of search do what type of district do you think I best fit is Holl if we have your search is Holl do you think I'm a match for Holl the the board is is um very very involved in helping us recruit a a targeted and and um highly qualified candidate base. We're also a member of the national school school study councils. Our past director was the president of the of the study councils national study councils and it keeps us again it opens up all sorts of networks recruiting networks. I mean we the study council in that area will put out the words of of a Nest search uh to their in their region and they will also answer questions. They'll call in and ask us what what about this

090community? Tell us more about it. Tell us the type of candidates you're looking for and we'll look for them in in our district. So we really have a nice recruitment network through um and we have a reputation nationally. So candidates now from from different states will keep an eye on the NASDAQ website to see what we're doing and they'll call about um different searches. So a little bit about the an overview of the of the superintendent search. U it's customized. So, I'm going to give you a broad brush of what a search um the elements of a search and then we can talk about how it could how it is and and and how we customize it to the different districts. A search has basically I'd say five overlapping phases. And I say overlapping because

091when we're in one, we're anticipating the next and we're closing up the one before. But each of these phases has many design options that we can talk about to customize it for you. But in general, in general terms, the phases of a search run from the design right through to the signing of a new superintendent. And we stay with you. We're there. We become your new best friend. You'll have my cell phone number, Nancy cell phone number, and our email address and and you can call us weekends, nights, day, you know, day and night. And we will walk you through every process. We will give you templates. We will talk to you. We will customize it to make sure that you feel as if it's a Holliston search. And it is a Hollist search which

092would might be different from the community you know another community using Nestech as a search consultant because they're customizing it to their needs. So, in the design phase, we'll work together on an outreach letter uh that you that goes out to by email to all of NESD's six states network, but we also post it and you have the um list on in the proposal of all of the uh electronic postings that Nest done. It's on page four of the proposal. So I don't want to take the time to read it to you now is but it's a very comprehensive from AASA to to um schools bringing top school jobs all of the uh national advertising sites. It's included in your proposal. So and also in the design phase I'll sit down with you if we're

093the the firm that's selected. I'll sit down with you and we'll go over every aspect of the search and we'll talk about how you want to configure your do you want focus groups? How do you want them? Who would you like there? And I'll talk to you about the different options. What would you like to do in in this phase for your screening meeting? I'll walk you through all of the different options and we'll talk about this flow that you see on the slide, your options during all of it and we'll design it. So, when we're talking about um comm community, let's go down to the community outreach and needs assessment. This to me is the heart of a search. This is the part of the search where you want to really focus. This is

094where you're bringing in the community. the community. You want them to feel included and you want them to be included. You want to hear their voices. We ask the community, what do you feel Hollist needs in a new superintendent in schools. We talk, we give them many op, it's up to you, but many options and how to participate. focus groups and online survey. I will be asking you are there any people in the community you wish me to call directly and talk to them for 10 15 minutes and get their personal uh perspective? Um how else would you like me to reach out? So we'll be talking about that. We we run focus groups. We have them by Zoom. We're finding that most people enjoy that more than they do the inperson, but we also

095offer the inerson because you want everybody to say, "I had an opportunity to participate." They might not choose to, but they they feel that they've been given many opportunities to participate. We take all of that all everything that everybody says all of the data and everything from the online survey and we put it into a data document. So you'll get a document that will show this is what was said at the parent focus groups. It's all anonymous. We don't tell you who said what, but this is everything that was said. We put it into thieves at the parents. This is everything the students said, everything the teacher said, everything the administrators said. Here it is. This is their voice. And in the from the online survey, we also write out their voice. You'll see the

096the um multiple choice questions that they answer are the the um those areas, but you also have all of their comments that we invite them. Is there anything else you'd like to say? Is there any anything you have to say about X or Y? You get all of that. to get all of the data in broken into um role alike groups, parents, community. Then we provide you, we summarize that. We work together nest at NESD to find themes. We sit down, we we take a look and we see what those what themes run throughout across groups. What are the parents and the teachers saying? What are they saying in common? What what are the administrators saying? And we pull out and we say, it looks like to provide a document to you, a summary document

097says, it looks like there's four or five areas that are very, very important to the community. And you want to ensure as a school committee that you choose a candidate who has real expertise. You want expertise across the board in all areas. Of course you do. But you want to choose a superintendent who has um demonstrable expertise in these four areas. Real deep knowledge and want to check that through questions in your interview through uh reference checks etc. Because this is the sacornon. You get that document from us the summary document. Then you work with me to revise it however you wish and it goes out for you as the Hollist public schools successful candidate profile. It's what you as a school committee well informed by the community. You've you've listened, you've heard, you you've

098you've um thought about it and you then created with your added your own perspective and your own knowledge and created the successful candidate profile. That profile goes to the screening committee. And in the design phase, we're going to talk about what a screening committee might look like. And you know the short sort of quick um summary of what it might like is no arguments to two administrators to to to up to a group of like 12 to 15. That strong committee receives the successful candidate profile from the school committee and that's their lens. that's their guiding light. That um document is what they use when they go through the applications. Now, the screening committee has probably two um school committee members on it. You'll make that decision, but they're the people who get the applications

099directly from Nest. They'll get every application that we get and they will go through them and they will choose each person will choose whom they'd like to interview. The p the people that they feel best meets that successful candidate profile or best matches the the successful candidate profile. They'll come together as a group and we'll go through a process where they'll talk about who as a group they're going to interview, give a screening interview to. That screening interview is the one and only time that the interviews are confidential. By law, you get one bite of the apple as the district to to do a confidential interview. And we and assure the candidates and ensure to the candidates that their names won't be linked leaked. So candidates come in, they interview the screening committee, we work

100with them. We have a long first training session, second training session. We make sure that they're all set up. They have the questions they want to ask, the lens they're going to use and then we we put them again when they debate whom to move forward to the school committee and the school committee will have set guidelines for that. You know, we we want at least three, no more than five or however it is uh to move forward. When the screening committee chooses those people, NESA goes back and talks with each of the candidates to make sure your name is going to be made public. Now, do you want to move forward? Uh is there anything that you need? And we also ask them to start putting together their list of references. They trans getting

101everything together to move forward to the school committee. At that same time, while that screening committee is meeting, I'm meeting with you, the school committee, to organize you to get help you get organized for your part, which is all public. The school committee must do all of its work in public session. So, I talked to you about um you know, when are you going to interview? Let's get that scheduled. Do you would you like a candidate to visit your district first? We'll talk about that. I do you have any interest in going to the candidates district? We talk about how you're going to call references and I try to make that a painless process and we work the whole thing out and we also work talk to you about how is the community going to

102provide you feedback. If the candidates spend a day in the district, how will you and we have ideas for that. We'll help you with that. How can community members get their ideas or their their reactions back to the school committee? So, that's basically it. And then you uh interview in public and you deliberate in public. And um I'd like to think I can help you with that because that can be very challenging to deliberate in public and to discuss people's careers in public where they could be watching or their families could be watching or their community could be watching. we talk about um good deliberation strategies and hopefully you then make a fabulous choice for Boston. So um so thank you again and questions discussion. I hope you'd uh have some things you'd like to

103talk about. So, how many I guess like how many searches are you are you currently working on and what is the maximum number of searches that you would be doing at one time? >> Uh, is working on searches, but I haven't um started my search work for this fall yet. So, I think we're doing a search in green field, but the searches are just starting up now. And I don't want to do any more than two. Um, and I also sometimes like to start in them. So, one would get started and then the next one would get started. But, um, two is manageable. I think more than that, it's u because we're so personally involved. >> Yeah. No, appreciate that. Just trying to get a sense of of things. Mhm. >> And the meetings that

104you um that you organize and attend, do you do this as a mix of um Zoom and in person or are they all in person? >> The the screening committee training, unless there's a a blizzard and you tell me no, we're not even in session and we can't reschedule. I like to be there in person. I like to do the design meetings in person. I'd like to work with the screening committee in person. I'd like to be at your at your um design meeting for your aspect of research and and I'd like to at least offer some inerson focus groups. The other the other um things we can do over Zoom. You know, I'll be talking with you about either two or three of you that would like that that you would like to have

105as a search subcommittee. And that's somebody that I can call and say, "Okay, you know, we're setting up the focus groups. Where's do you have a hall? Do you have a place? Do you have a this?" But they we that can be done over Zoom. But I like to do I like to be in person. >> Thank you. >> And Nancy, I'm sorry I'm leaving Nancy out. I see her there. >> Just assume she's right along with me saying absolutely. I know you talked about um doing community focus groups, interviews, or surveys, but can you share a little bit more about kind of the background work that you do to kind of get to know our community and and the needs of our school district? >> Well, one of the things that I do is

106if we're selected, I'll do a deep dive. I already, you know, have been researching Hollist a little bit, but I'll do a deep dive in and I will talk with my liaison on the school committee. I will um talk, you know, I will maybe talk with people in in Holl. I'll let you know. I I'm not going to just go behind the school committee, but I'll ask you are there people that you like me to talk to um even before the focus groups. [Music] >> Thank you. Thank you so much. >> Yes. Thank you very much for coming and presenting. >> Could hear you. >> Oh. should get here. Thank you so much. >> Thank you so much for coming. I don't think we have any other questions right now. >> All right. Well, then

107again, thank you for having us and I will leave the meeting. >> Thank you. >> Bye. >> Okay. Okay. Um, I realized we did skip the individual school committee comments. I don't know if we want to circle back and try and cross all the things off our agenda. Um, did anyone want to share anything tonight? >> No. [Music] >> What? >> That's later. >> Later. >> It's later. >> Yes. I'm not going to jump around yet for that. >> Um, I think Okay. So there's no school committee comments. We will let's see why don't we continue on with Dr. Kat. >> Sure. >> Thank you. Give me one second to share my screen. >> Sure. >> Which I am never gifted at. See [Music] I've done a lot of fails today in the technology department.

108>> Let's see. How's that? Good. >> Good. >> Okay. So, thank you very much for letting me come and present. This is uh you know my first 12 weeks in the district officially not till Tuesday. So, I'm a little premature, but nonetheless, uh it's been fast is what I will tell you. And so what I'm doing is I'm coming tonight to just talk a little bit about what I've done. And I know you got the presentation in advance and you might have questions, but what I've done and what I'll be doing and where we're sitting at this moment, but one of the things I really want to highlight, and you're going to say that's not part of the presentation, but it is. One of the things I really want to highlight is it you might

109have taken note the artworks that's in the presentation that is from the students right here in the high school and I think it's really important to value the work that they do in that they were really excited that I came in to take pictures of their artwork and uh even this piece here from Ann King. They're selling their blocks this week. Final payments are due tomorrow, but for $10, you can have one of these very lovely pieces of fall on your desk at work or at home to entertain you and beautify your location. So, don't be shy if that's something you want. But I am very proud of what the kids are doing, the students are doing in the school. So, let's jump right in. So, one of the things I started with, I did

110a professional development with the paraprofessionals recently during this month. And this is the exact quote that I started with. And you might say, what does this have to do with our work? But if a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn because we all learn differently. And I imagine using uh Jeriel's recipe for beef stew that if we all went into the kitchen, we would do it differently. Well, our students also learn differently. So, it's important that we meet them where they need to be in order to learn. My two mantras in education and people might say really well after 45 years these have a great deal of meaning to me. One is and parents have heard me say this in meetings or at the faculty school's

111not a dress rehearsal. When parents entrust us with their students we only get one time with them in a given year. We can't say well hey could would you mind doing third grade over three times? We didn't get it right the first time or the second. So, it's really important to me that we make sure we're doing the very best we can when we have the students in front of us. The other one, and this comes from thinks, think kids at Mass General Hospital. This is not my quote. I need to credit where it comes from. So, out of think kids, the one thing they trained us when we were doing is if they could, they already would. So, our students get up in the morning and many obviously I'm here to just talk about

112the students who are on IEPs and maybe 504s and getting services, but when you think about it, our students don't wake up first thing in the morning and think, how can I unravel the English class I'm going to? How can I aggravate my teacher by forgetting my homework or not knowing where it is in my backpack? So, I think it's really important that we look at our kids and understand they wake up and they want to come and be successful at school just like everybody else. So, as far as I'm concerned, if the students aren't able to do it, we have to find that door for them to go through in order to be successful. And if they already knew where the handle was on that door, they would have gone through it. So, it's

113important to me that we all acknowledge that when we're with our kids. One of the things I put together is how are we doing? And so I looked at data and I'm not sure how far I can move from this mic before my voice gets lost, but I'm going to back up just a little. So one of the things about the data is that I 2020 you can see the population of students in where we were with kindergarten through age 21 as well as ages 3 to five. What the town percent was and what the state is. And what that is is a comparison to show how are we doing against what the state is saying they're doing. And so I did a number of years just to look as a comparison because not having

114been in the district prior to July 1st, I didn't have this base knowledge. And so it's been very helpful for me to see that the population has kind of gone up and down. And you know, you can see where COVID was and how things dropped. and that piece in 2021 when the population dropped, everybody had that similar experience. And the last two districts I was working in, they had the same experience. But what I want to note is that you can see there's been a steady rise in the number of students who are going on to IEPs. And when that happens, the percentage in the town also starts to rise. So in 2020, we the DESIE is reporting that 16.2% 2% of our students were on IEPs. And then if you look at 2025, the

115town is saying that or Desi is saying that the town is now at 20.4% for this year, which means we've gone up. And at the same time, the state rate where we were lagging behind the state rate, which we don't want to be at the state rate, but we were lagging behind the state rate. Now, in 2025, we're just about even with the state rate, which means we really have to look at what we're doing, look at the MTSS, which I'll talk about further when we're in down the slides there. But the fact is we want to be looking at what we're doing now and understand why the numbers have been going up and what can we do to turn that trend around. That's very important because we also want to think about our students

116being inclusive settings and being successful in those inclusive settings and being independent learners when they're in those inclusive settings. So, I wanted to just say this is just a factual piece just to help us to understand what it looks like and now make some decisions about where we're going to go. In terms of the disability categories, you can see that this is no different really than a lot of other districts. Our greatest learning uh disability is in the specific learning disability category where 23% of our students on IEPs, their first diagnosis is a specific learning disability. The second highest percentage is the health where it's 20% and most of our students there have been diagnosed with ADHD. And then lastly, autism is our third highest at 18%. So when you look at this number, you

117know, 60% of our students are with three major categories. And so we have to make sure we're addressing those when we're teaching them in our classrooms or even if they're in specialized programs that we're giving them the proper tools in order to be successful learners. What I've observed so far is that our faculty want our children to succeed. Every classroom I walk in, that is what I've witnessed and observed is our teachers are trying to find ways to make sure our children are successful. Um it should say Ian, there is a typo there. In speaking with students, it's really clear they appreciate and respect their teaching staff. I've talked to students who say they're very thankful for the teacher they have in front of them. This summer, I was speaking with the students in ESY

118and they talked about all the great things that happened in school during the course of the year. So, I think that's a tribute to our teachers. Uh what I've also observed is the work around MTSS is further along than in other districts. and we have work to do, but we're further along in other districts that I've been in or I've consulted with and so forth. So, that's something we should be proud of, but we still have to do more to make sure we're doing our absolute. And then, uh, you have a lot of teachers in this district that are trained and prepared to teach Orton Gillingham reading, the multiensory, scientifically proven multiensory reading program. It's one of several, but that is the one that's been promoted most recently by the department of uh elementary and

119secondary education and money has been put into that by the uh by Desi for training and districts have adhered to it. you have a lot of teachers that are not only trained but certified and that really gives you a leg up over a lot of other districts and I think we should celebrate that because so many other districts are cutting back and not able to give those kinds of trainings and yet you have been able to do that successfully. I've noticed that the principles have demonstrated that they're really proud of their staff and they really adore their students. I give credit to David Kim. I would never walk around in a Captain American suit. No matter how much you paid me, I could not walk through that carline wearing that outfit. I saw him the

120other day wearing his uh blowup pen uh pelican. No, was it pel flamingo outfit and I thought not getting me to do it. So, you can see our teachers go the distance. When I see uh the high school principal, Mr. Liss, going around the schools, the kids come right up to him, talk to him. They welcome his visits. And so these are the things that I observe. That's not always seen in other districts. And it's not that I'm saying that we don't have things to work on, but I want to make sure we recognize what's really good and what's really happening in Hollist that you don't get to see day-to-day because you're not walking around the classrooms with me. The another thing I've observed is that there's some real high quality teaching that's occurring across

121the district. Do we have to improve in places? Yes, all districts do. We're not all perfect, but the fact is I've seen a lot of great teaching while I've been going through the rooms. [Music] And where have I been when I can make these statements? You might think she's sitting in her office and just talking to people. Well, I'm not. I've been in every school and I've walked all the schools with the SSAs in order to see all the programs and see all the teachers. Uh, so I basically been to every school. I've set up meetings with many constituents. Um, I've gone to the continuum programs. I've met the teachers. I've worked with the BCBAS who also work with the continuum programs. I've already met twice with CPAC. My first one I almost missed legitimately,

122but I got there. My second one, I had the uh I was fortunate in being able to present the parents rights and meet everybody and bring some of our staff with us that night. I've also been able to present a half-day workshop on executive function skills. uh about 80 people responded to the survey whether they liked it or not and most people have asked me to return and do another segment and I will be posting regular articles to our PE our paris in order to understand more about executive function skills to me that was a really successful workshop I've been collaborating with principles and the central office staff about the professional development we do um le the legal counsel here has provided updates for nurses and special educ education people. Uh Miss Manolt's coming in

123on Tuesday to work with a group of our administrators so that we are up to date with some of the latest changes in the law. I've been attending IEP meetings and uh Michelle Lame, bless her heart, just dropped so many meetings into my calendar. I know I'll be all over the district. Uh and then as well as I'm beginning work with the out of district students and families already. I've met with some families and next week I have a series of meetings. So, I think it's important I get to know all the different constituents that make up our population of students that are on IEPs. The other places I've been, you might have thought, "Oh, she's all done." Nope. Nope. There's a little bit more here. Uh, we need to give our teachers the tools.

124This is uh what I'm finding is we need to give our teachers the tools that will help their students. So, it might mean that we have to give some more professional development or look at some other things we have to do beginning the work with the out of district students and families. do want to make sure we're doing right by our students who do leave our district, but I also feel we need to take a look inwardly. Is there any more we can do to help students stay in our community? I think I explained more than once that when our students leave the district, there's a reason why they might need to leave the district. We need to have them have a cohort of of peers. If our students are going to be here and

125the cohort is comprised of themselves, one peer, it's not appropriate. But I also know that when we leave uh have our students leave our district, it's often I find they're in a school, it's 45 minutes away, their new best friend is 45 minutes on the other side. And so Saturday parents are spending a lot of time commuting back and forth. So I want to be looking at those things. Uh I participate bi-weekly in meetings with the SSAs to make sure that we're meeting all our students needs. uh we have to make sure that the students have access to the materials and provide equitable and meaningful services. We want to give opportunity for the faculty to communicate and collaborate with the families to make sure students are receiving what they need for academics. And we want

126to provide a positive and active learning environment so students can feel successful and be at home in our community. I think that is very very important and I have to say from walking through many of the classrooms I've seen that all over the place whether it's in a special education classroom or it's in a general education classroom I can go up and talk to a student in a continuum class in a special ed class and a general ed class and they will talk about their experiences and what they like about school and what they find easy and what they find hard and that's a tribute that they're able to actually vocalize it. So, some legal changes that have impacted our work this year just in this update is understand the title N regulations have changed.

127I know what you were working on the policies. Uh the new IEPs are in place and we continue to work on them and make sure that we're being efficient and using them appropriately. We are looking at the timelines are accurate. Last spring, uh, the Department of Ed put out, it's not that they put out new rules, but what they did is they clarified the rules that were in place about 30 days for testing, 45 days for an IEP, and when the IEP needs to be delivered, and how many copies need to go home, and so forth. So, I wanted to make sure everybody in the district is on top of that. And so, the delivery of documents on time, we continue to check and see what happened last year and if there were problems, how

128we can fix it for this year. Obviously, we're looking at the changes with MCCAST since it's no longer a requirement from the vote. We're looking at the competency determinations because every community is still going through what they're going to do. And then, of course, I'm listening to the news yesterday where they say, "Dessie is looking at coming up with a competency determination and you're putting hours into making your own and then they will create one for you." And the other thing I'm looking at are transition opportunities. So for instance, Annne King who came to my office and was telling me about these blocks. I had no idea this happened. What an exciting thing that the students learn life skills, money skills, organization skills, timelines, all the things they have to do in order to be

129independent workers in the world when they leave the district. So I think a real credit that we have many transition opportunities and we're continuing to build them. So what will we do this year? Well, professional development will be aligned with the district needs. We're going to continue our work on the dyslexia action plan. In fact, my email went out before this meeting asking for our first meeting in a week and a half. I'm bringing the committee back together. We'll be changing some of the the members because some have left and some have come. So, that will happen. I'm looking at absenteeism. Dan, I think that was one thing you asked me about. So, I am looking at absenteeism. I'm also looking at the continuum programs and how we do them and what we do in

130them. I'm working closely with CPAC because I want to make sure we have our collaboration. So, for instance, this year we made sure there's a membership with Federation for Children. I believe that's something that hasn't been in place for four years now and we made sure that you'll be getting a membership this year to be a part of Federation. uh and we're reflecting on the service delivery, how we deliver, how much we deliver, why are we delivering those services, are they working, are they too spread out, are they too close, and so forth. So, we want to look at what we're doing and are we overd delivering because believe it or not, there are cases where we think students need more than they really do. Our goal is always to make the students independent learners.

131And we know that some students are going to need many more structures than others to get there. But it's still our goal that when they leave our school, they can live a very useful life and contribute back to society. So, what's up for this year? I just want to point out this is from one of our students in the transition. I love this quote. This is painted on the wall of the school, which is another nice thing. We can all walk by it, but inhale positivity, exhale negativity. I love that phrase and I love that sentiment, but I also love the fact that our students are part of that and painted it for everybody to see. So, what are our plans for this year? Well, we're participating and aligning MTSS. We're we're supporting the professional

132development. We're looking at the MTSS as a focus. We're looking for pathways for inclusion. And I won't read through all of them because I know you've already done so. Um, I am observing and gathering data to figure out what more we can do for support as the emphasis is on MTSS this year. We're looking at our monthly numbers of referrals for evaluation and also the total number of IEPs based on that other chart I gave you. And then we're going to look at how the dyslexia action plan can and will continue to support MTSS in the classroom. This is my first time coming to that committee, so I can't specify a lot of details of what will be the next steps. I know what was presented to you in the fall, in the spring, I

133mean, and I know how much work went into that to happen. Is it going dark on me? >> Okay, thank you. The other goal is look reviewing our resources. So, I want to review the roles that support the students on IEPs and how we this is all connected to MTSS. We're looking at the assist of technology and how we integrate it in the inclusion classroom. What more can we do? Especially there's so many new things that have come out in the last year and even when we had our PD day, we were fortunate enough to have a specialist come in and work with our par profofessionals on AAC devices. So I think it's great to see that we know that AI is kind of come on the horizon and so we want to make sure

134it's used appropriately. We're going to continue to reflect on the continuum usage which is how we use our programs. who's in our programs, what we're doing with them, and how the students move through them. And then in terms of the bimonthly meetings with student service administrators and principles, I want to look at how we help drive the work in the building and be a resource to people and how I can build stamina among all our staff to give them the opportunity to also contribute. And then what more? Well, you can see we're going to continue to enhance accessibility for the resources for the HPS family hub. You'll see that continue to develop this year. We're going to look at our continuum programs. As I've said, we're looking at our out of district placements and making

135sure if students are making changes or are looking to leave our district, are we doing the right thing by them? And then participating in CPAC, I'm participating in the Hollist Youth and Family Services. I'm part of the HPS Wellness Council. So, I've kind of jumped in feet first. Uh I'm I'm here at 7 in the morning. If you ever feel the need to have coffee, I'm still here at 5:00 in the afternoon, but then it's decaf or herbal tea. Uh, and I just want to say thank you very much again. I want to thank the students from Soore who were allowing me to do their art. This first one, which you might not be able to tell what that was, they had an art class in which they had to take raw fish with their

136scales and make prints out of them. I thought that was really cool. I'm glad I didn't have to smell the fish, but I thought it was really cool. And then as for the rest of the prints, I love this bottom one too as well. An artist who from the class who put believe in yourself. And that's exactly what we want to do. We want to make sure that every student believes in themselves, tries their very hardest, and is as successful as they can be. So, thank you. I don't know if you have any questions. I have a question. Actually, when you talk about the MTSS um in the district, is that focused primarily on students who are on IEPs or is that a general um tier one and tier two for the general population as

137well? >> That's a great question. It is everybody is a part of that >> and actually we're really trying to dig into our tier one supports because obviously preventing students on IEPs is really the goal and and trying to get them what they need beforehand. So, that really is the entire leadership team is really focused this year on all our PD with the new math program. You'll hear more about that when we present the goals in October. >> Um, we previously got like IEP numbers, 504 and district placement numbers for the current thing. Can can you provide those maybe two email or something? >> Um, the 504 number I don't have off the top of my head, but I can get that for you. >> No, that's fine. Yeah, an email is is fine. >>

138Okay. And then yes the um you know when I came in we were hovering I think in the upper 40s but I it's changed it. >> Well I know it's always changing but just the current >> Yeah I will get that to you. Absolutely. It's sort of like the stock market up down up down. >> Y >> um and then another question you prepared that slide was very helpful page five on disability categories. Um and I guess had you noticed I you sort of did that analysis from um 25 24 23 going back in time. Did you notice anything changing over that look back in terms of the disability categories like driving the IEPs? >> I'm under you mean in terms of like the uh specific learning disability versus autism? Is that what you're asking

139me? >> Yes. >> Yeah. I didn't dig back. Um I saw last year's it's those numbers are fairly similar. >> Okay. >> But I'm happy to go back and look at the prior years if you'd like me to report on that. >> No, it's helpful to know that at least over the last year that >> Yes, it's fairly similar. And and the other thing to know is it's actually fairly similar in the last four districts I've been in. >> So I think that's where we kind of trend that the most common one is a specific learning disability which encompasses the dyslexia and so forth or might be a math uh difficulty and other things. And then ADHD, you know, I've seen that rise postcoid. I can't give you the reason why, but it it does

140seem to have risen a little bit. And then autism, as we get more effective in how we diagnose students, of course, that number will rise. So again, even with dyslexia, as we we get more proficient in how we diagnose students, numbers will rise as a result. And then as we put in the structures to help and support students with anticipation, then they'll begin to decline. I thought it was really interesting in that age 3 to five category that we didn't see like a postcoavid increase when those you know 20 21 22 um kiddos entered that range. In fact it's the 24 age 3 to 5 is less than the 2020. >> Yep. Absolutely. And I can't really give a definition for it. I think in some cases um at least two districts ago a lot

141of our families were at home at come home because of the pandemic and then didn't go back into the office so they kept their kids home >> which may so we might not see it. So kids might not get diagnosed as easily if they're staying in the houses. >> I'm not going to tell you that's how it is here in Hollist. I can't say for sure, but I'm saying there's a whole host of reasons why that could have happened. Then that I did notice a lot of parents who said, "I'm keeping my child home because I'm going to work from the house." [Music] >> Thank you, >> Dan. You looked like you were about to ask. >> You're in deep thought. >> Deep thought. >> Okay. I just Thank you. Um that was a great

142presentation and I I appreciated that you highlighted some of the good things that are going on. I know you have the perspective of being in a number of different districts. So, it's nice to hear some of the things that stand out to a two new set of eyes. >> So, thank you. >> There's a lot of really great people here. I mean, my time here, I've seen so many great people, administration, teachers, principles, and so forth. Even the kids, they're they're a love, you know, when I can walk into a classroom in preschool, have child come and hug me, I'm like, I have never met you before. But they're very very friendly. Um, you know, I'm fine with that. Obviously, it's just a very nice place to be. I think it's been very hard for

143me to leave public education, obviously, because I just keep coming back like Velcro. So, but thank you. Thank you. All right. I know I have to take this off. I've got to remember how to do this. It >> should be up the top. You should be able to stop sharing. >> Not yet. I don't. Hold on. No. Oh, was that it? No, that was not it. Hang in there a minute. Nope. All right, David. I need your help. >> I can get you out. I can I just bumped you out. >> Can you bump me out? >> Yep. >> I'm sorry. I am not good in the sharing department. I need assist a 504 assistance here. >> Yeah, I cannot figure this out. >> Suppose me can't not let her in. >> All right. I

144can just shut it and it will turn it off. >> Disappeared. >> Try to admit it. See? >> All right. >> Okay. >> All right. So, continuing on. I think um we are to central office updates. >> Um I don't have any specific updates at the moment, so I'll defer to Joanie. >> Okay. Before, sorry. Before I give you my really brief uh presentation on PD, just wanted to say a few things. Uh my husband and I had the pleasure of working celebrate Hollist, which is a lot of fun. If you guys did the parade, you saw us kind of directing people to go around, which was not always popular, but that's okay. It was a lot of fun. A lot of great groups. I was very excited to see all the school groups there,

145so it was nice to see. Um middle school band and high school band. Um, just to let you know, we had our second new teacher institute meeting tonight. Uh, focusing on evaluations and really getting them familiar with our Teach Point platform that we use to house all our evaluations and their evidence and goals, etc. Um, uh, Hillary and I were talking a little, uh, bit about MCCAST data. Just to let you guys know that we'll we will receive it shortly and it will be sent out in the normal fashion that it has been done in the past. Um we had yesterday our first of the year elementary ELA curriculum review went really well. Great group of teachers um a wide range of experience and knowledge. So I'm really excited to continue that work this year

146and be expecting that we will make recommendations to the superintendent and to you uh by the end of the year what direction we want to take. Okay, I am going to share my screen let's see here. Okay, let me go to Okay, and let me go way back. Okay, here we go. So, just to bring you back, we had our first P day PD day of the year on September 12th. It was a full day. And Tracy, you were asking us, we have a theme for the year that was created by administrators, teachers, curriculum specialists, principles. Um, the whole group came to the same conclusion that this is going to be our focus for the next three years. And it's really strengthening tier one instruction. And you can see the whole thing here. So, we're

147concentrating everything on that. It's broken down in so many different ways because that encompasses so much. So you're going to see how different schools engage that thought. So at Plastentino for our first PD day, it's not everything. It's just some wide um topics that happen. So really in math looking at that small group instruction, hands-on instruction and differentiation definitely directly connected to MTSS. um reading tutors and some other people really looking at specialized instruction and intervention and comprehension and fluency really kind of taking a look at tools we had and best strategies. Uh we had teacher choice for using AI tools which was phenomenal both at Placentino and Miller and I'll get into that and then they had social emotional learning in UA classrooms. They have been working on that for a few years. Pleasantino

148also did a lot of work on standardsbased report cards. They're really digging deep as Miller is also into developing rubrics so we can have some common understandings. If you're going to give this student this rating, this is how they earn it. They dug into amplified data. They're really looking at the assessment data and then developing targeted instructional plans for individual student needs and we looked at vision sensory strategies for self-regulation versus behavioral reinforcement. So all those are directly tied to MTSS. You see two pictures here from Placentino. Um on the left is some of the reading intervention work they were doing and on the right um the UA work that was being done. Posters were given to every teacher that's directly tied to all the SEAL work that's been happening at the elementary schools. At

149Miller they concentrated on tech tools did a lot of different work with that. they um tied it directly to how they're using their new report cards and then also tied it directly how to support assessments and rubrics. They had teacher choice also on AI tools and how to use those. They were really mapping out report cards and figuring out when they're going to teach each standard that we're reporting out on um and what assignments can be tagged to those. Like I already said, they did the UA ruler training in math. They were looking at mathematical practices that Desi puts out um and also assessments. You can see some pictures here from that day at Miller. On the left, that's when they were talking about really mapping out um all their work to the report card.

150On the right, there are two different presentations. tech integration specialists concentrating on AI tools. At RAMS, they had a whole community meeting really kind of digging deep into practices for SEI work that they're going to do um and really MTSS and executive functioning. Then they got into more in depth into ruler lessons and strategies what they're doing in RAMs block and also throughout various lessons. And the afternoon they spent on additional understanding by design training and working on stage two and those really critical transfer task and having a gaining a solid understanding of what a transfer task is. These are questions. Wow. These are pictures from RAMs. You can see in the top left there, they were working uh the curriculum specialists were working on UBD templates. And the rest of the two diagonal pictures

151are people hard at work um working with their colleagues in their departments on those stage 2 documents and the curriculum specialist on the bottom right. at the high school. They spent the entire day with a consultant called First Education. And it was a workshop held in the library here on building effective collaborative teacher groups. And that's to set up next year's work. um multil- language learners, we really have a need that we need to support them with professional learning opportunities because we are going to be going through a multil- language learner curriculum review this year. And due to access scores, we really need to support our students more and our teachers more. So, we had an outside consultant, Dr. Ronald Lee Mooney who is recommended to me um by other assistant superintendents across the state.

152Very wellreceived and we are going to bring her back hopefully in January. She did work with all the teachers across the district um the MLL teachers and they looked at data student data portraits tracking tools and language acquisition. the nurses got together as they have for the past three years, four years. Um they worked on a presentation from Boston Children's Hospital and healthcare emergencies. Um they did con concussion training. Sorry, I don't know why I couldn't get that out. Um with C CDC heads up and they worked on changes to medication administration and delegation. they came together as a team. So peers and continuum they worked for part of the day with Dr. Cotalo in the afternoon there you can see the picture that um when she was working in the high school calf on

153executive functioning that's the bottom bullet there that she also mentioned but there were different presentations some people worked on entrance exit criteria deescalation strategies Dr. Katado, I'll also um mention the communication in the classroom really looking at systems and structures that we have a lot of work going on. We will continue the MTSS work. Uh tomorrow we are having a another prep meeting for the district leaders and looking at what our November PD is going to be. Thank you. >> Um hi everyone. Um just as it relates to the federal government and the budget uh deadline of October 1st um it does not look like there's much agreement at the moment between the the house senate and the president um there uh as it relates to department of education um there is there's not kind

154of a common agreement even between the president and the house the president and the senate um as far as that so those three groups are not in agreement as far as what the um FY26 budget would be for uh specifically to think about with the Department of Ed. Um the the president the house the president um you know as we've seen some stuff over the summer is is looking at um at potential title entitlement grant uh cuts um specifically to EL and uh migrant students and also students with disabilities. But uh just in general um a lot of our our title grants as they impact um here as law as well as just reductions in the size and authority of the department of education. Um the Senate on the other hand is is looking for

155level funding um uh based off of level funding to the FY25 uh bid budget uh for for education. Uh but um unlike the president and the house are rejecting consolidation um so they are looking to kind of keep things very similar to to where they are. Um, one change that the Senate Senate is on board with um, which, um, is a risk that we've talked about in this space is, um, on-time funding that when the when the funds by the federal government are appropriated, um, the the state immediately has those h has access to those those funds. uh versus kind of the the um withholding those funds um which was potentially the risk or some of what happened this summer uh with our entitlement grants and some of the the uh there was kind of

156a and Joanie knows that there was a little bit of a a rush to to uh draw down all of our grant funds as fast as we possibly could. um and that the rest that the federal government would keep uh keep the funds that were appropriated for and budgeted for by most districts. Um so the Senate is proposing kind of an on-time funding uh piece. Um the uh the House uh is looking at some some significant cuts to the Department of Education um in kind of titlement grants similar to the president, but they are looking at increases in charter school funding and special education funding. Um so we'll just we'll see kind of how that um how that all plays out. Um there are 5 days for them to all get that sorted out. um

157if they don't uh reach agreement by uh October 1st, some of the potential impacts on on uh education on public education is they do start to kind of furlow or release um department of education employees. Uh and that potentially can have impacts on um the services or reduce services to the federal government or the department of education provides. um delayed aid uh that we would have uh and then potentially you know halted grant assurance uh issuance that we could potentially have. The lucky thing because we were talking as business administrators today um is the state of Massachusetts uh we the state uh as long as it's been appropriated by the federal government and even if we don't receive it from the federal government they award those funds to the school or to the district. So,

158if I were to draw those fund down for a grant, even though it's a federal grant, I can receive those that that money, as long as it's been appropriated, and then the state uh like the the state um education department, DESIE, seeks the reimbursement from uh from the department of from the federal government. So, um there's a little bit of that protection within the state of Massachusetts. Uh but still, you know, the state is going to be looking for that money. um on a federal funding level, we're uh we wouldn't be as significantly impacted as some of our um our area districts. Uh but needless to say, um while this year might not be the risk, we've talked about kind of what what does this mean for potentially FY27. So, [Music] thanks [Music] I just

159I had a quick question for Joanie. >> Do you get feedback from the teachers on this? >> Yes, I do. And um I share it with the whole full admin team and then PD console members and we have meetings that we're setting up um for the year to discuss and then we use that feedback to change um and adapt PD that we have for the rest of the year. >> Okay. Just curious. >> And those questions in the PD feedback form have been created by both administrators and PD council members. >> Do you feel like the teachers are getting what they're looking for in terms of PD? Are they happy with it? >> It depends on the group, right? And it depends on the session because I ask for feedback for every session of the

160day. It's not just for the whole day. >> Okay. So it varies depending on you sometimes I think maybe we have they have received that training before and we need to look at okay we need to kick back on that I know there's a lot of want um to continue the MTSS PD the teachers are excited about that um they are really digging deep into the report card work at the elementary level so I know they're going to continue to want support in that I mean there big um things happening. So, we're trying to address their wants and needs that come out of those big things that we're working on. Um and then to further take that on um with how we're doing elementary curriculum review that committee of teachers and administrators will bring when

161we bring forth the recommendations for materials to you. They also are making recommendations to professional development that needs to happen for the teachers to support that new work. And just who does who is the PD council comprised of Jody? >> It's equal members um admin versus uh teachers. So it's um last year it was Dan Mloud, David Liss, myself. Um uh no um I'm blanking right now. Um, it's on the other side is Trisha Clark, uh, um, Tenelli, um, Ann King, uh, Casey Conahan, >> and Aaron Snider, and it was Dan, myself, David List, Brenda Morrow, um, and David List. So, yes, >> thank you. >> So, elementary through high school are presented. Yeah. >> Say that again. So, elementary through. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> So, the um Aaron

162Snder recruits everybody from the teacher side and I recruit people from the other side. So, >> and the AI tools that they were um learning about are they to enhance the curriculum? Um uh >> it's actually to support students. is like to differentiation differentiate instruction for them. One thing that was talked about a lot is Cammy. Another one is I'm going to pronounce this wrong. Is it uh hold on a second del how do you >> Yeah, Delo. Um and then they were using other tools. So Mr. Mloud has been able to get us more AI tools, Google tools that we're exploring as teachers and administrators and uh Gemini is a tool that all educators have now. So they were also uh talking about that. >> I think really just helping teachers to understand that

163these are tools. It doesn't replace but can enhance like they'll put they put their own lesson in and now give me three different levels of that lesson. And that's where we find that teachers can save themselves a lot of time as long as what they're putting in is authentic. We don't want them using it as just doing the work for them because that's not necessarily going to meet the needs of the students. >> So Cammy was originally brought in in this district, was it last year or the year before? I want to say last year um just for special ed and then we really found out that it was supporting Gened Tier 1. So it can really uh help teachers, you know, assign if you're reading articles, assign different levels of articles. It can um

164give it help them give immediate feedback because it suggests feedback and then the teachers, you know, make it their own. It's it's helping uh teachers give more timely uh more effective feedback to students. And especially for those, you know, your secondary, you know, ELA, it impacts the most, right? Because that's really a heavy lift for teachers to read through all those essays, etc. [Music] Question for Dr. George. Do you have an update that you could publicly share with regards to bus number six? Uh I yeah I I so bus number six currently or is still being driven by uh Tim Holmes who is the runs homes transportation. Um the we he has posted and is looking for for additional drivers uh for where we are um uh for bus 6. We also which I'll be

165sharing with families of bus six um here uh pro probably tomorrow is there are some adjustments based off of uh Mr. Holmes driving the route. Um some safety adjustments that he wants to make in in some of the pickup locations of uh bus 6 specifically where we've had some some uh roll backs and um where one of the apartment housing locations are where we have a large number of students at those and it's they have to cross uh the street in order to get there. Um we've run into some situations they're not really waiting for the bus to shoot across the street. So, um, so we have some adjustments that we're planning to make to to that route. Um, and we'll communicate to those to those impacted families, uh, likely tomorrow. >> And for those

166of you at Celebrate Holl, Holmes had a very creative um, recruitment strategy. They had this very cool old-fashioned looking school bus that was in the parade. >> Yeah, it's very cool. Okay. Uh reports from subcommittees communications >> no updates this meeting. Uh we will meet again once we vote tonight selection. >> Okay. >> Policy. >> Uh nothing new from policy. We meet again in a couple weeks. >> Yes. >> Um budget. So, we haven't had a meeting, but uh the CPC did uh recommend the flag project. Uh finance committee will be discussing that. Um the finance committee, capital subcommittee and the finance committee as a whole uh approved all of our capital requests with two adjustments. Uh one, they're going to look for some alternative funding for the $100,000 for the sidewalks at Pastino Miller

167as part of the repaving project. And then they're going to make make a recommendation at town meeting for the the um pastine Miller roof um based on any updates we potentially get uh on our acceptance in the MSBA program as well as you know certification free cash >> and the sidewalks are going right around the elementary school. >> They're on the campus. Yeah. >> They're on the campus. Um and then finally so too and then uh we uh Sarah posted uh for us to meet with the select board on Monday. They invited us in to share with them our capital request that we've been discussing with the finance committee. So we're going to do that and anything else that they want. Um and then lastly working with the town manager and the town's attorney on

168language for the article that we'll be sponsoring for these solar leases. We do need to still vote on the actual article itself rather than just the general >> and town meeting to support our budget requests is >> October 20th. >> So we have another school committee meeting in advance of that. >> Correct. We'll send out reminders >> and maybe we'll get a communication out about our budget and coming to support it. So what we'll likely >> well we'll see we might have two communication meetings before town meeting so we get communication after our next meeting >> full school committee meeting and how we update from there. >> Sounds good. >> Lots of communication meetings be ready. >> And then math advisory. >> Uh nothing since our last meeting. We do meet again on Tuesday. >>

169Yep. And just before I forget, um the town has the policy advisory committee and they are looking for another member to join. So if anyone is interested and then there's also the wellness council, we're looking for people to help. >> Yes, I I had the survey go out and I did check today and I resent it. I didn't have as many people, but then when I resent it, I got some I have a good number of people now, but I we usually try to have at least one, but potentially two school committee members if you're available for the four dates that I shared. >> And the policy advisory committee about how do we know approximately how many meetings? >> I I don't have information on that. I can ask. >> I know Joan is one

170of Joan Johnson. >> Okay. >> One that is appointed by the group, but >> to represent the schools. I don't I think there's technically one other spot for the schools, but I don't >> Yeah, maybe if we find out about that >> I can reach out to Robert and ask what the frequency is. >> Okay. Um [Music] All right. So, do we want to move on to the search firms [Music] have a discussion I guess on what we right now it's between the the two that we were presented tonight. >> And again, thank you to you guys for doing all of that work going through the materials and then um the outreach to bring people in for the presentations tonight was really helpful. Um I think they were able to answer one of my questions

171which was are we going to be leading community meetings over Zoom because I was worried about that. um >> two great presentations. >> Yeah, we have a better sense that um folks, you know, would be yeah here live um when we needed them to be and kind of the the timeline of of working with us. That was a good question you had, Joe, about the the price match and and thank you for picking up too that like advertising could be a different >> in addition to cost on that one. >> Yeah. >> And they had some add-ons too. Yes. For different things. Yes. Um I I think I Yes. I think they gave a better idea of what the process looks like and how they're going to engage the community through the different focus groups,

172community forum, surveys, looking through the strategic plan, interviewing, um and working with us individually and as a group, too. Um that was really helpful to hear both of their perspectives on that. I'm still on HA. I'd like to to discuss with them some sort of price match. I don't I think it's, you know, they're going to end up going through line by line of each what what they each do. So, I don't think it's like a straight price match, but >> yeah. And if they can offer a reduction of sorts, you know, >> um I think also I like they go over, but they have a partnership with Howard University. Um which I think uh you know could could be uh interesting to see what comes with that. And just their overall sort of package

173it seems was was uh very comprehensive and I like we're going to talk to all of us you know individually we will have to discuss a little bit about the search committee with them I think our Massachusetts might be a little different than some other states but >> it's kind of where I'm at comes down to those different presentations but similar process high level it comes down to do we want super local feel or national outreach. That's what I kind of got. >> So, you said similar process. That was one of my questions though. I feel like Nesc didn't lay it out as clearly. This was how like I like that about HIA where I I could tell you what was happening each month. And I don't feel I didn't get that same vibe at

174all from >> I agree, but I think it comes down to do we want like a more national outreach versus like local feel. local being they know local like what you similar towns are doing what would you need more organized with hya it seemed like more laid out um yeah for me it came down to knowing it's going to be challenging do you want the national outreach and we bring in or do we feel like we can tackle it with those living in this area >> cuz I mean Ryan I mean I I heard diverse health had a few folks reach out like we're not in the process right now to find a superintendent. This will be a firm to help us find it and we're not going to sit back and let the firm

175do all the bidding uh as much as like we were going to own it. They're going to help facilitate it for us with us. >> Where you at? >> I am more hy. >> Joe, do you feel similar? >> I feel the same way. I mean, the their proposal and their presentation was much more detailed. Um, for what it is worth, I did reach out to uh the NATIC uh school committee chair. They used NASDAQ last year. >> Um, one of the things that we hear all the time is we need to be more engaged with the community and it sounds like NASDAQ was very engaged with the community. >> Yes. >> Um, in their search ended up yielding, I think he said between 20 and 30 candidates and they reduced it down to four

176finalists who they had forums with. Um, but again, HYA does cast a wider net. Uh, their proposals are much more detailed and they seem to have a lot more experience. Um, my main concern is the pricing. So, if we can get a match or some kind of reduction, then I'd be all for it. >> Okay, that's fair. >> Yeah. >> The motion for HY is subject to negotiations. >> Further discussion though, do you guys have anything? We I feel like you guys have covered a lot of it and I I appreciate that we took this extra time and kind of like gave us all an opportunity to dig in, read through and we had additional questions, but you feel like >> dude, I didn't make the motion. I was just saying the motion could be

177>> okay. I I thought you were making it. I wanted to make sure everybody was here. >> I think both costs will be variable based on what we want. >> Like they both had added costs. It wasn't like an allin and so we have to dig deeper on both. HYA by far will be more costly, but I think well within the range that we expect. [Music] >> How are you feeling? >> I I would probably lean more to HYA right now. I did like some of the things in their larger proposal that talked about their commitment to diversity and I do think they have a wide um they will cast a wide net which could be interesting. I I thought it was interesting and helpful that HY put out there that when they send out

178their surveys, they do it in multiple languages and they wait to kind of understand better our community and make sure that, you know, that they're actually connecting with folks that way. Um, yeah, I I feel prepared to vote tonight if >> if everyone else does. Yeah, I appreciate they they try set it up so that they kind of gather a lot of different community feedback before kind of putting together a candidate profile and then going through the recruiting process so use all that to really inform the recruitment. Um I would want to go back to them with yes some additional questions about the pricing um particularly around the advertising that you brought up um and just make sure that we understand the full cost of what we're expecting. >> Mhm. [Music] Are you ready? You

179want to make a motion? I'll I'll make a motion to engage HYA subject to negotiations. Second. >> All in favor? That carries. >> Now for the fun part. Do you think we have to engage James Ke? Um, no. Okay. >> We have to we have to work with the RFP is not happy. We got to bring them into >> Yeah. So Hillary and I I Hillary's taking a lot of weight here. So I will >> appreciate it. >> Yes. Thank you, Hillary. Um I will reach out to James tomorrow, let him know and go through the process. I'll include you and Sarah as well um on that. Um and we'll get moving on the process. and they seem really excited to get started. We'll see what they can get started with right away as we

180work through signing them up as a a provider. >> Okay. Um the last thing we wanted to just kind of bring up and just to get on people's radar screen, um we're looking at the 2026 27 school year calendar. It's always Yeah, we've >> This year, next year looks good. >> I know. This is actually next year it looks >> it lays out a lot better just because some of the holidays just happen to fall on the weekends when they're celebrated. So, you know, if you look at where we're starting very similar to this year, but we get out um potentially on the 16th, which doesn't overlap with Junth, which does have to be celebrated on the 18th, which that's that's where it's run into the last few years, right? That problem. means next year

181next next year is going to be real difficult. >> Yeah. So, this is just a draft, but we're just throwing it out there to let people think about it. Um, if you have feedback, >> shoot us an email. >> We don't want to be like last year. >> Yeah, I would prefer to have this voted earlier than later. >> There members that we, you know, we've done a lot of surveys and stuff like that. you know, if they're members of the community that have uh want to weigh in on on their thoughts on on different things in the calendar, they should absolutely, you know, send us send us emails. >> Yep. >> Um we could I don't know. I don't we don't really want to put this up on the website only because, you know,

182a lot of people get confused that it's it's final year. So just for for the record, the first day of school based on this would be Tuesday the 25th of August would be a half day and the last day would be uh Wednesday the 16th of June which would also be a half day. So as people think about it um that's kind of how to to uh with everything else sort of remaining the same essentially on the inside that's the year. Yeah. >> Is there anything else you wanted to say about that? >> No, I don't think so. I just I thought I thought there was a missing PD. I didn't have any. No, I think um >> this is a feasible. >> Yeah. >> Future. >> Okay. >> Is there anything else? >> We

183caught up. So um well I guess at this point we are ready to adjourn >> to executive session from which we will not return >> For purposes I read the whole thing. >> Mhm. >> For uh to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chairs. It declares Second. >> All in favor? All right. Roll call vote. Sorry. Joe, >> yes. >> Frank, >> yes. >> Hillary, >> yes. >> Tracy, >> yes. >> Dan, >> yes. >> Don, >> yes. >> And I'm a yes. >> Good night, everybody. >> Thank you.