School Committee Meeting - 4/17/2025

001Good evening, Hollston, and uh welcome to the April for nope, 17th uh meeting of the Hollston School Committee. Uh welcome to uh April break and um so we'll get right into things. Um calling us to order first. The item is our consent agenda which just has our minutes from last week. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Second by Don. All in favor? Okay. Um since we are at the beginning of uh of spring break, we do not have student representatives tonight. So we will skip right to um school committee individual comment. Um, I'm concerned about the state of our democracy, but other than that, I have nothing else to say. So, just small stuff. Small stuff. That's it. Cool. And and public education in general. I'm going ongoing stress for me. I'm

002let everybody else feel. No, no comment. Okay. Uh, and then I am um I think I'm good as well. Um, since there's no one in the room, uh, is there anyone on Zoom who would like to make public comment? If so, just unmute yourself. There you go. Hey, Barbara. Just wishing everyone a great spring break. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Barbara. Thanks, Barbara. That was wonder. That was actually the best public comment uh we've we've ever gotten. So, thank you. Please. There you go. Um, all right. Well, we uh are are 30 minutes ahead of schedule. So, uh so uh Mr. Mloud, if you uh would like or or Dr. K, I'm not sure who who's going to kick us off with the uh the data presentation. Sure. K's going to pop that up for

003you. [Music] All right. So, Dan and I are going to take turns on the slides just um to move through this. But for those of um you that have not seen this before in the audience on Facebook or wherever else, this is a followup to our August presentation. We did one in August 2024 and last year was the first time we started doing this particular presentation and part of the reason is it's been a shift. Um we had moved away from looking as intensely at data and we really have tried to find that balance with data and assessment. So the August presentation had a lot of new information and our data dashboard has been a big part of this journey and and the work that we're moving forward with. So this is kind of part

004two to that. I will say one of the things that I didn't want to forget to mention before we get started is Deian and I have been talking a lot about the data and the the timing of the data and we really think this would be beneficial to have a once a year um presentation but maybe in October or November connected with our school improvement plans and goals because most of the data we have if we had the MCAST data all at once we'd already have the US news and we'll report it comes out in September for the Boston magazine data so I think that might be the sweet spot so we'll some of the new information from last time and we'll have some of the old information here as [Music] well. All right, so

005the agenda items that we're going to talk about, we have eight comparison districts, but it will show up as 11 in some places because Dover Sherburn and Dover Sherburn are shown three times in our data dashboard, but it's actually the eight comparison districts that we've used in the past and currently. We have niche data, US News and World Report, Boston Magazine, School Digger, MCCAST, and then the recommendations and the progress we made on some of that work. And it's only been eight months since this last presentation, but given the data dashboard and the the roll out that we've had, we're encouraged by the work that we're able to do with some of that [Music] information. So, these are the eight districts, as you can see. Ashlin, do Sherburn, Franklin, Hopkin, Medway, Milford, Milis, and NICT.

006And we just looked at kind of the the districts that are closely aligned with us and neighboring to [Music] us. All right. Uh good evening everyone. So, niche is our first uh ranking we're going to talk through a little bit. Uh this actually has changed from last year a little bit. Uh they removed SAT. So you can see here the highest weight is state assessments which is MCCAST basically and then the interesting one 17% there. The second one is best colleges ranking. So they actually look at where our graduates end up in the rankings of those colleges and that impacts our score only second to MCCAST. And then all the other ones are your typical uh based on their own rank of best color. Correct. Their own rank. It's a best color. So it's it's

007all a little interesting. It's all data is all about how you display it and explain it. All right. So we'll show where we are this year. So this is our trend data for um obviously back to 2016. So we are this year 52 and last year 51 and you can see the trend and feel free to stop me if you want to uh discuss any of these or want me to explain it more. I think we just should clarify the reason we did our bars upside down in this in other presentations is the lower the number the better. So we kind of wanted that to jump out. If we did it the opposite way it looks like it's wrong for people to visually understand. So good point. All right that was the district ranking. Again,

008it was 52. This one, again, just so you can don't confuse the numbers, is 55. That's our high school. So, niche does both high school and district. So, you can see where we fall this year uh compared to other districts around us. All right, back to you. So, I mentioned US News and World Report. We don't have updated um US news and report for this year but it does take in the college red index rank, college curriculum breath index rank, state assessment proficiency, state assessment performance, graduation rate rank, and underserved student performance. And one of the things that we've talked about here um in the past is AP scores impact very widely in this particular ranking system. And um one of the things that we have not done in Hollist that we are trying to

009shift to and have started to shift to many districts that offer the wide range of AEPs that we offer will have students they have to they're required to take APs here. It has never been a requirement and it really hasn't been as strongly encouraged as we would have liked to as well. The challenge with it is that many of our AP um classes are offered three terms and then the students finish up in the third term and then they take the AP test. What's challenging about that is because of our model, the half year, halfyear model, the kids could not take it even if it's a halfyear class. They couldn't take the AP test mid year and count it as a final. Whereas in other districts, many districts will count the AP at the end

010of the year would be counted as a final and the kids would be exempt from that. So that actually encourages them to take it more widely and it does impact the uh rankings consistently um moving forward with US News and World Report. And this is the one that's interesting. It's 2122 data. So that's important with US News. We don't fully understand why because most of the other measurements include recent data. This one lags for whatever reason. But the good news for us is we're actually our our rankings are improving for US News and World Report. You can look when we presented in 2020 the 2023 um data we were 2026 in national rankings and number 76 in Massachusetts high schools. This year we've moved up to 1,66 in national rankings and number 62 in Mass

011high schools. Again, this is still two years old. So we're we're encouraged with some of the data we're going to present later in this presentation that we believe our data is going to show more improvement when we look at US News and report in the next coming years with the current data. And then diving a little bit deeper on those u improvements. This is the actual scorecard which informs those rankings. to last year's on top 2023 where we were 76th high school and now 62nd high school. But you can see the improvement in scores. And then also for those that have seen these presentations, it's that AP exam uh data that basically um drives is the biggest driver of the rankings. So you can see that pretty clearly with that top line, top two lines

012there. That was my emoji by the way for the take credit for that. Math, reading, and science proficiency. What is that based on? Do we know? Um, math, reading, science proficiency at the high school. So, that I'm going to guess is just the high school uh MCCAST data data. The 10th 10th grade and nth grade. Yeah. Yeah. And not everybody has MCCAST, but they use state proficiency um scores for that. Okay. Again, sticking with the high school, uh this is the slide comparing last year versus this year as far as um where we are versus surrounding districts. So again, you can see we've improved from 76 to 62. And you can see how others have improved. We will say most of the other districts around us did improve with the exception of Ashlin and Medway.

013Not to call them out, but just just to give you some context. Um All right. In the past, we've used Hopkin since it's our one of our closest neighbors for comparison purposes because they have obviously an exceptional ranking. So, this past year, they were number seven. We were 62 as we've um shown in other slides. But again, this just highlights the um the AP priority that the ranking has. you know, looking at ours compared to theirs and then looking at the other. Yes, they're more proficient in the other areas, but we know the AP based on that first slide is the biggest driver of this particular ranking. US News. Okay. And then the high school um gave us some really um detailed data based on the AP program for your uh review and questions obviously

014if you if you feel free to ask them but we do feel like there's u since we started encouraging the AP uh making it a priority there is improvement for example you can see um second line total AP course enrollments has increased this here. Uh the AP courses went down and I'm sorry that's that's on there's a note on the side they believe because um some students were taking online APs the previous year. But I just want to point out too if you look at the in 2022 to 232 students were enrolled almost the same this last year 321 but the significant increase in the number of APs they're taking. So if we could get those students to take the test more of them than have been currently again those rankings would increase significantly as

015well. Do we know what AP courses we all need? You know there used to be things like AP human geography available online. Do we still offer those or do we know which which courses we reduce? We didn't get that detail and I don't even know if it's a reduction or just that they didn't have enough students enrolled because sometimes it's just it's still offered but not enough kids. We don't we're not able to offer it. So we're not I wouldn't have that detail right now. I just want to point out I'm sorry to keep emphasizing this but this is informing the US news ranking primarily which is 2122 data. So the future actually looks bright for that particular ranking. If you look at the trend data for our AP improvements. All right, this is our

016first uh proud to share our data dashboard. One of the u dashboards in our dashboard within our if you want to call it that. And this is apologies hard to see but you can see um on the left side are AP exam results from last year. And it's nice you can see the um I guess the most popular courses, right? The most AP test takers and their results as far as proficiency. So four and fives are in blue, threes are in gray, and then the ones and twos and reds. Yeah, I think it's important because the bar we were looking at the way the years played out, they just the length of the bar is what they um the dashboard has focused on, but it is significantly increasing. And you see that now we're up

017to the 40 AP scholars and 20 is it 25 um scholars with distinction and then scholars with honor. The gray scholars with honor is the highest. It means they're taking I got to double check it's they're taking three or more uh correct the AP scholar is taking they're getting a score of three or higher on three or more APs and a score of three or higher on four or more APs for the AP scholar with distinction score of three or higher on five or more AP exams for the scholar with honor. So I think that data tells a nice story that we are seeing students increasing take increasingly taking the AP exam. So again couple years from now we should definitely see this um showing in our results for the rankings. So the years are

018are out of order. Yes, we noticed that too. It's because they they did the length of the bar and the height of the bar. It's the way the graph um so 22 it was sort of and then it dipped down in 23. 23 dipped a little. Now we're back up in 24. I have a I have a thought on that, but I'm just curious if you had any any No, we we wondered the same thing. We uh we're going to reach out to the our vendor and kind of discuss this. Well, I think he's just asking why 23 is smaller a smaller number of students in these AP scholar distinction areas in 23 versus 22. I don't know for sure yet. Uh that is something we wanted to look into. We didn't notice at first

019that that have swapped until today. We looked at it and said something's wrong with that. I would like to see the data dashboard people. Didn't it go digital or on some of the AP exams in 23 for the first year and we had some crashes too which was like college board. I feel like I did. And then you had to retake it like a month or two later if you so chose. Yeah. And that could be why that is showing. But was it all kids in 20 I'm just trying to think of it. 23 kids were freshman when co hit. for some. Are you able to look at this data by group too? Great. Like track are how many students with dis are we improving like students with disabilities, multilingual learners, low-inccome students taking advanced

020courses. Yeah, great question. We we we can filter the data in that respect. We did not do it in this one. We can definitely do it for the next presentation. No, I was just curious if that was something we were looking at. Yeah, we we definitely could see you can see all of the students names and how many tests they take on this particular one and then there are other filters that you can apply, but we just wanted to get the general data for this discussion. Yeah. Could you just I don't understand what the what does 288 in the red column under physics one versus 169 blue No, no, but we don't have that many kids, right? We don't have that many kids. Not every kid takes AP physics one and it adds up to

021more than the class. Do we know what that is? Is that over time? Oh, no. It's just one year. But how many kids? Well, yeah, that be a lot of kids. Yeah, we'll have to delve into that. Over the whole class, it is a lot. English lang. I mean, are we sure this is not Is it Is it definitely one year? Or is it over the last 1 2 3 4 5 6 years? So it could be 23 screenshot of them. So 2024 the one on the right. I think that's what it is. You just said David. I'm sorry. Because all a lot of the categories, the second one, the third one, the fourth one. They have more students than we have in our school. Right. Yeah. I was going to say the bottom right

022is definitely 23 24. We took that right off there. But Dan screenshotted a separate just just trying to show you the volume of student wanted to see the volume of students that are taking the um exams. Does this in general make sense as far as like the the number of students we think in general take those classes? Like is physics one the most not say popular reason no one likes physics? But kidding. I'm kidding. But no joke. Uh but is physics one definitely the most uh taken AP class? AP Lang is way up there. But that's number two. Yeah. Well, I guess that is there anything they're doing in physics one that's pushing them to take the test? I do not get specific, you know, that would be teacher specific too. Again, part of this,

023you know, for example, when I was principal for the day the other day, um asking students, um are you taking the AP exams? And I think I mentioned it a couple weeks ago too that the students have said, well, some of them are falling on prom day or different things. So, a lot of it comes down to the encouragement that they get. And this is where, and I was going to talk about this later, but this is where with a new schedule, it's going to open up some opportunities as well because with fullyear classes, there's a possibility that we could have the students take it as their final exam. As I mentioned earlier, other districts as a it's if it's required and then it's counting as a final exam. Again, we're going to just see

024more kids take it and the rankings again will all start showing the results that we would expect from the caliber of our program here at high school. So we will follow up on that particular graph and clarify with title pro something more concrete. Any other thoughts about this? No, I I appreciate the breakdown on the AP awards too because that kind of gives you an idea of how they're doing. So, we just wanted to highlight this and I know Joanie and Ida are going to talk about this more on May 1st with the curriculum and intervention presentation, but we're excited to see the biiteracy um seal program increased in volume. Karine is really doing an awesome job um encouraging this program. She was doing I think it was last week that students were taking the

025tests. Oh, it's been multiple. Yes, multiple sessions. last couple weeks they've been taking it and we'll get the results later this year. But she's expecting to see 30 seniors receive the graduation honor and there were 16 last year. So over time we're seeing a significant growth in this seal of by literacy which is also encouraging and highlights the language program here at Hollist High. Does that include students who are taking AP French exam that may not have taken the seal of biiteracy? No. The exam is totally separate from seal. get the seal of by literacy if they get a four or five on the AP exam. I couldn't hear you. I'm sorry. She said they get a they get the seal of by literacy if they achieve a four or five on the AP exam.

026That would be a question I'd want to ask Karine if she's included that in this number. That could be that could be an addition too. Right. So, can you look into that with her? Multilingual learners um pursue the seal of biiteracy too. Okay. Yes. Wasn't there we're encouraging more to take it though. Yes. Wasn't there a different seal of bi literacy slide in here earlier that broke it down by how many in Spanish? How many? We took it out because it just seems so busy. So I we did take it out. It concerned me because I thought it said that only five in French received it this year and six in Spanish as compared to like 33 in French a couple years ago. We saw that too that the French definitely seems to have decreased

027and that's again something we'd want to dig into. I think that's something we did. Ida might be able to speak to a little bit more as well. Okay. Can we just make sure we follow up and provide that back to everyone and then if we can just follow up with some questions on it too because I didn't understand why French had gone down so significantly too. Yeah. And that's why I just wanted to mention it here because she is going to present on that. So I will make sure that Ida says that for the May 1st presentation. Okay. Well, what so um why I did take the AP, I'm sorry, the seal of literacy last year in French. Um all of the students failed it except for I believe one or two and then there

028were supposed to be a um a retake of that, but not all the students I think were not communicated with. It was sent as like a a blanket email like, oh, you should come to this um this retake of the exam, but they didn't know that they hadn't passed it the first time. So it looked like oh this is just you have an option to do that and so you know like for example Wyatt thought that he had passed it so he didn't go right and then he didn't get to take it so then there's no option for him to take it his senior year until way late so and he was away so there's no chance for him to take it during this time because he's in France so so he's taking Did that

029number that five was that for 2024 2025 because I do know that they've taken it already this Yeah. I don't know. I think that was they've had multiple sessions already. But the number I think that was for this year because Karine sent us that data. It was 10 for this year. It's not good. Yeah. It's not good. So, we can ask maybe I to bring that back that slide. Yeah. That's why I didn't want to get into it too much tonight. I just wanted to highlight that the program is growing. All right. Moving on to Boston Magazine. So Boston magazine uses high school method methodology and it's compiled with the most recent data available with MCCAST um desi SAT scores and it's calculated September 10th. So when we presented last August we didn't have the

030current um Boston magazine rankings as well. So we'll share those tonight. Yeah, there were two rankings in S September. So after our presentation, two of the rankings came out. US News was the exception. All right. So, uh, this is a comparison of last year's SAT data versus this year. When I say this year, it's a last spring's SAT. Um, so just want to draw your attention to a couple things. Um, our evidence-based reading and writing, er, improved at least the highest achievers from 18 to 22% and the number of test takers was 28 last year versus 30 this year, but we like to see the percentages percentage increases is more reflective. And then everything else, we we studied this pretty um carefully. there was either drops or increases, but they weren't dramatic in most cases.

031So, it seemed to be pretty the years seem to be pretty equal overall. And so again, the SAT informs this ranking, which is Boston magazine. So, this is just high school. Keep in mind, not the districts. So that's where the SAT plays in. So we're at 45. Um year before we were at 40. And then you can see the trend all the way back to 2014 for the high school only. And very busy slide. This has all of our neighbors plus Hollist High in red and that 45 ranking and how it fits with everyone else close by. All right, Susan, this gives you Well, I'll I'll let you do this slide and then I was talk about Oh, yeah. This is me. All right, school digger. We kind of forgot about school digger, but it

032is a factor in real real estate. So, we thought we'd bring it to your attention. Um, so school digger was on September 25th is when the calculations came out. So, they use a rank score system. So, this is just a sample district. It's not Hollist schools, but I just want to kind of explain. So, Lincoln Elementary is 15th out of 100. It gets an 85% rank. That's a 085. You can see the other three. And so what this ranking does is average those three to generate a rank score. And then that informs the district rank score. So it takes all the schools in the district, combines them, and averages them to give a rank. And so we landed at 59th in 2024. Again, this came out late September. If you think so, the 351 districts,

033we always talk about project 351. So, I mean, 59th out of 351 is pretty strong. We're we're pretty solid here. Okay, next slide is we put Thank you, Dan, for putting this chart together. Um, one of the things we're going to talk about tonight is the trend data for ELA, math, and science with MCCAST. And the biggest thing we want to highlight tonight, you're going to see some s I think quite nice improvement in our student growth percentile which is really important. People want to focus on meets and exceeds and yes that has a lot of value but student growth is a trend over three years. So you're looking at the same cohort of students and how fast they're growing in comparison to their peers. When you look at meets and exceeds every year is

034a different cohort of students that you're looking at. So it's not the same kids that are getting compared to another. So yes, those numbers are important to our comparison districts, but the student growth percentile is really has a stronger value in how we look at the growth of our students in in Hollist. So if you look at the trend data here, this is again um from our data dashboard. You can see that um looking at our students meeting and exceeding is for ELA. We're up 18% from the state average last year. If you look at our student growth percentile though, 58.7 is up 1.3% from LA 1.3 from last year. But 8.7 is compared to the state. So the meeting exceeding is is getting better. But also the um student growth percentile is really what

035we wanted to highlight here. Is that for grades three through eight or the high school? Three through eight. Okay. Th this particular one doesn't show grade 10 in this. It's a three through eight comparison because of the three-year TW for student growth. in the next slide. So, this was really something we wanted to highlight. We were really pleased to see our growth here from 2019 to 2024. In 2019, we were at 45.6 average student growth percentile. We're now at 59%. And if you look at our comparison districts, it says 11 districts. It's really the eight that we talked about, but they break out Dover Sherburn and Dover Sherburn. Do Sherburn and Dover Sherburn. It's it's three times. So, one out of 11, which is really one out of the um the nine, but that's significant

036growth for Hollist. That's why we like to highlight that because that really matters. And then compared to the all districts in the state, 17 out of 354 for growth. Again, significant growth for our students in ELA. And then we did break in the next slide, we broke out also the meets or exceeds. You can see our growth here as well. um the meter exceed it's not quite as strong as our student growth, but in general we're still doing well. Six out of 11 or six out of the the nine for the comparison districts. 57 out of 354 for the state. But again, I I still think that the school student growth percentile is even more valuable because it's comparing the same cohort of children versus different cohorts every year. Okay, switching to math. My former

037uh career. All right, so math um again this is 3 to 8. We just want to draw your attention to the um the state this is the state average the dotted line and then you can see how appears to be growing. the delta appears to be growing and then that's informed by the 21% above state average and then the scaled score is 12 12 points above the state average and we're seeing that growth in the bars as well on the um on the right bottom right correct and so just like the ELA this is where we are in student growth percentile so second out of the 11 districts and again looking at this uh we're pleased with this. Obviously across the state uh the increase is steady over the past several years as far as

038moving up the ladder. Yeah, we we were at 162 in 2019 up to 25 out of state. That's that's really significant testament to our teachers and our programs. Definitely. And then this is the percent meets or exceeds. Again, not as um high in the ranks as as far as STP. So we we're six out of 11 compared to our neighbors, but still showing growth on the if you look at the top line, we're still showing growth from 51% in 2021 and and holding our own 62% the last two years. And again looking down here at the state growth uh we did drop a little bit from last year but if you look at the trend 9953 up here to 45 in the state all right science we don't have student growth percentile for science because

039we don't do it in three consecutive years it's in grades um five and eight thank you five and eight five eight and 10 10 and but if you look on the left side students meeting or exceeding again up 4% for Hollist from last year but then up 22% in comparison to straight the state and you can see again the green line that are we're trending up significantly um above the state from the past. So that's great to see and looking at the bar graphs you can see the growth there as well. So if you look at our meet and exceed that is showing us as four out of the comparison districts still again if you look at the trends from 2019 up 79 up to 36 compared to all districts. So again we're really seeing

040some significant gains in our student growth and that's exciting to hear and uh nope. All right. So, what action steps have we taken? And this is a little bit I guess awkward because this is all data in the past, right? So, we're just trying to continuously improve on that data. So, we did obviously you saw a lot of the data dashboard tonight. We are using that, you know, almost I know the schools are almost using it daily. So, it was very helpful for this presentation, too. Yeah. And you'll see Joany's um team talk about this with the interventions as well. This dashboard is is really a gamecher for us. We did get a late start with it when we talked about in August. We were still it was still getting configured. So, we didn't get

041to start as early in the years, but already it's making a significant improvement in how we're able to access this data and disagregate in so many different platforms and formats. And I think I understand for the interventions how you use the data dashboard, but how do you use it for all students beyond just the interventions? Like how has that helped this year? like how so data things like that beyond attendance data. Yeah, the attendance data has been significant. We put that in the goals, but also one of the things we've been working on as a district is our um concerns about equity with our um stu our students of color and low-income students that we were still seeing inequities and that data has been something we focused a lot of energy on is how do

042we move those students along. We also saw when we presented um on math earlier, some of our students that were students of color that were not in our higher levels were actually overperforming students that were in our higher level math. So that's that's what we've started to dig into is why is that happening? What can we do differently? And again, that's part of our discussion about how do we open up more doors for our students going into the higher level math when um Karen has already shared with me that the numbers going into algebra 1 next year are going to be stronger than usual because people want to have that opportunity and students will struggle and we do have this gap year this year because of the fact that anyone that was in grade seven

043going into grade 8 this year has not had those math eight standards and we talked about how those were moving down into grade six and grade seven. so that by the following year um the school has a plan to help adapt for those students. But those are the students we're looking at now the students that have the potential but weren't maybe identified properly. So that's one of the areas I'd say is that's been a real focus area for us. I'd also say at the building based leadership meetings they're using it on a regular basis to talk about how their school is moving in a positive direction and what they're seeing with the gaps, what they can do to make changes in a positive direction. So, as Dan said, the schools really are using it on

044a daily basis in so many different ways, but they're starting to change the conversations around data, which is a really positive thing to do. And um it's a it's done in a non-threatening way, and it's a a positive conversation and looking at all the students in a grade. So, so it sound like looking at student growth, tracking students advanced coursework, um, enrollment or like the annual metrics that you're really diving into. Can you use the dashboard to track are we on progress throughout the year toward advancing those things? Yes, because on our data dashboard, I'm going to jump in. You have and I ready there. You have dibbles there. You know I mean like you so you are having that Dan was talking about dashboards within the dashboard. Those are dashboards that we have. Yeah.

045So it's the real process is what's been helpful. So that's to go to your point like that's the buildings are having those rich conversations right around that data and looking to see what the growth is or not growth. What do we need to do? um interventionists are using it all the time to progress monitor, you know, but yes, this is where it's been helpful, too, is where our interventionists are the teachers overseeing those interventions, but then in some of the buildings we have tutors that are so they can help support the tutors and put those groups together. So, they'll talk about that May 1st and that I feel like is a huge um it's been a it's it's been a heavy lift. It's a very positive lift, but it's been a heavy lift. It's been

046a huge learning curve for them to use it. I'm going to be honest. I mean it it was hard because we work in we are going back still Dan back me up we are continuously tweaking how we are tracking intervention groups because we're like okay we need to make it work a little bit better for our interventionists and tutors. So I mean it's still kind of a yeah they're using it so much they're running out of like yes intervention group names. You can't use the same name. Seriously it's a good problem. We have to create new naming conventions for the intervention groups. But I will say we get requests it's it's probably once a week at least from an administrator in the school asking me can the dashboard do this or add this functionality. So

047we know that tells us the schools are really using it and they want to see additional features and again we're just in our first year. So yes and open architect has been very cooperative and helpful with this but what we're hearing too is more and more districts are moving to open architect so we may not get this um all these wonderful changes moving forward. But I think we have been at the forefront. Correct me if you think I'm wrong, but they have been very attentive to our needs and they have made changes based on what we need and they are making a lot of positive changes for everyone in June July. Help me out open architects. So the summer it has a new interface that's being launched. So they're their energy is focused on getting

048that launch be having that launch be successful I think. So they're everything we're sending now they're like we'll get to it in the summer. are preparing for this gigantic launch. That's why JerryLiel and I think I mean your grant money has been used for this because it's been so important that we keep this it's more Jerry's. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We we believe we're we're fairly um confident that we'll be able to renew another two years with some of JerryL's grants. That's great. So, some of the other action steps that we started um recommending last August, again, it's only been eight months and not having the data as early as we would have liked, you know, we're definitely showing progress and we're excited about the gains, but it's still been a very short time frame here.

049So, we need to continue to identify the gaps where the state standards need to be more explicitly taught. We need to continue our professional development in all content areas. Math has been a huge focus this year. it will continue to be a focus next year, but other content areas have to have really targeted strategic professional development as well. And that's I think that we've talked quite a bit about that in our PD conversations about how much time we can give in the 24 hours for teachers next year specific to content um learning and ongoing professional development. We do feel confident and and excited about the fact that we now do have the systems in place that we will be able to analyze longitudinal program data and student college and career outcomes with this all of

050the things we talked about tonight. So that's exciting with that dashboard facilitating that process. We talked about we're already seeing even before the encouragement of this year I know that Mr. the list I think put it in the handbook and they're strongly encouraging students to take APs and not requiring yet but you can see even prior to that we're already seeing the trends up for the students taking it and then the schedule in 2627 will allow for students to take AP exams in lie of finals so that's a shift that Mr. would like to make um as soon as he can with that new schedule. And I really do think you're we already see given that we're looking at data for the rankings from 23 24 is actually two years prior and we're already seeing

051um significant improvements the last couple years that we showed you tonight that we are really confident that we'll see those rankings improve um particularly for that US news report. We're swapping new for finals. Are we going to require them then? That's again, I don't want to speak for Mr. List yet, but that's the trend. That's what he'd like to do. He's going to work with the teachers this year. And it could be one of both. It could be you take it, you don't have to take the final. Correct. Or it's mandatory or it could be a combination because we're also shifting the culture and the expectations for students because some of them have never really thought of taking them that they want they want to be challenged, but they haven't thought of taking the test.

052And in my mind, I'm thinking if I'm putting all that time and energy to be challenged, why won't I take the test? And we do offer some scholarship money, I think, at the high school for students that need um that can't afford to pay for those. So, you know, we we really do want to move in that direction. I hear the increasing encouragement for kids to take the AP exam, but um how are you also looking at increasing pathways for different students to access advanced courses? This is where the so this these are the conversations that's starting now and because as you know, we've had some challenges with the schedule. kind of locked students out and that is some of the work that Mr. Liz and I were talking about. In fact, today we're going

053to um probably have them come back in a couple of weeks to show you some of the pathways that teachers in math in particular were already talking about. We're going to have some of those changes happening for our students that are going into nth grade next year and then they'll have a whole new schedule the following year. So, teachers have already started thinking about that. And this is where if schedules um if the middle school or high school are going to change any of the levels and it sounds like there's an interest in adding levels. So if that's going to happen, we really would encourage that to happen sooner than later because the work the sooner the teachers can start planning for that, you'll get those pathways mapped out. And I so, you know, I

054know that you have that committee starting to start up. But the later they get that information, the harder it is to plan for that. And that's where we have gaps. So I I really would encourage that. Um, I know you have a schedule started, but once that gets going, if we could make a decision sooner, we'll we'll make it work or whatever direction we go. Well, I always want to encourage taking more AP exams. I I do when you're looking at it in the context of whether it should be just the AP exam in lie of a final or maybe a final, which is often a great practice for students before they then take the AP exam. Um, if we have kids that are taking four or five AP exams in a year, that's $500

055for a family on top of Yeah. And they haven't determined and they may just have $1,000 of fees in a year. The biggest part though of the rankings is taking one 30. It's like 30 for one for one of the rankings it is. Other rankings do look at multiple multiples. But one other way to increase AP's exams I think too and you know you look at it when you look at how Hopkin has 81% taking at least one AP exam where we're at 64%. They do offer AP classes to even their freshmen, right? They have freshmen taking AP biology. Um we're very limited until I think sophomore year and even sophomore year it's maybe two or three classes that you could take, you know. Yeah, definitely. I think this is all good conversation that will

056be happening at the high school next year as they as they plan for 2627 and the new schedule. So, the first data report that you guys did was December of 2023. And as I look at the recommendations from December of 2023, they are very similar to the continued sort of action items that we have now. Mhm. I mean purchase a dashboard and now it's purchased a dashboard. Utilize the equity audit to examine curriculum offerings with an equity lens. Arch 13 arch arch 3 strategic initiative number one that's identical to what we have now. Continue prek 12 plus alignment in the curriculum in all areas. So I and it kind of it goes on and the final one was develop an exam requisite for AP classes. Um, so we're now, you know, a year and a

057half after this and I guess what I'm what I'm not really seeing is sort of what the progress is in the use of of of the information that we're we're we're doing are because the we're still talking about sort of the the same things. And I get that some of the work is just ongoing, but what are the what are the results of the ongoing work that we've done? How is how is this been used? um you're talking a lot about how it's sort of being used, but we don't really I guess I was hoping for a little bit more in this and kind of a a regurgitation of the information that we've already kind of received multiple times now. Um it's it's it's nice to see that in some places we we we increased

058uh in in rankings, but obviously I mean rankings while not unimportant and certainly probably more important in real estate than than in day-to-day student outcomes. Um, I I just I I I'm not seeing the I someone help me hear what I'm trying to say. Limited in seeing the actions taken. We're looking at a lot of data here. This is good. But the actions taken, learning from the data. I feel like we're just assessing still assessing the data versus using the data to inform what next steps we should take. So I I think we are doing that. you know that this is where we we've showed you some tremendous growth in our student gains over the last few years. Um the data has been looked at that way. The the the staff is mapping it out.

059It led to a curriculum review process where we we just purchased a brand new math program. Anytime you purchase a new math program, it's two to three years implementation. We're in year one of implementation. So a lot of the data that we're looking at has helped inform the curriculum review cycle. Um I'm seeing significant gains. the fact that we were able to our middle school being a national blue ribbon school with all the their data has improved tremendously. Um, so and we're actually talking just over a year since our first presentation on that. There was a a shift and I talked about this last year in 2017 and that's where you can you saw some of the data start to drop and then it's coming back up again. There was a discussion about we're going

060to unshackle the teachers and no longer look at MCCAST data and that shift did happen. When I started here in 2020, I we weren't presenting the MCCAST data. We And I'm not all about MCCAST data. I'm I think we're showing you multiple data sources tonight because we shouldn't be looking at one specific. We should be looking at multiple data sources. But I I'm seeing our district actually show significant gains over time. It doesn't happen overnight. And the rankings are only, you know, a snapshot in time as well. Depends on what what you want to look at. But to me, the biggest thing right now, the fact that we have students showing significant growth in number one in ELA um comparison districts, I the fact that those students of the same cohort have grown that much

061is is exciting to me. But this data is two years old, right? Not to mention, so it's before this data the rank the first rankings report. So well, it depends on the data. So it's the MCCAST was from last fall. Okay. Falls data. So, so one of the recommendations from from December of 2023 uh was provide ongoing professional development in all content areas. So, do you have some examples of how this this data and the information that we have was used in professional development? Do you want to talk? Yes. So Dana, you want to jump into? So we've had um PD from both I Ready Inexl on how to interpret the student data, how teachers can use that to assign students who are lagging um with their mastery in a specific Massachusetts standard, how they

062can group them, how they can push out work to them. Um so it's being used for one tier one, tier two. It's being used to progress monitor the intervention groups. Um but they have had multiple PDs on that which they continue to do and have discussions about how to look at that data, how to analyze that data, how to use that data to group students, how to push out work to students with very targeted instruction for what a specific student doesn't understand. So So that sounds that sounds great. I guess that was sort of what I was hoping would be part of the the presentation and that we would get tonight would be something like that. So, can we I mean we can either the committee can sort of send sort of follow-up questions. I

063mean, I I thought that was sort of what we had asked for, but maybe we need to be a little more specific about what exactly it is that we're looking for because I would love to know that sounds great and I'm sure it is. But to somebody who who works in a bank, I I also don't have any clue what it means. Um, and I'd like to sort of just see it so that I can kind of understand it because it does, you know, um, at least for me help and I think it might also help the community understand how we're using this data to inform decision- making for their for their kids. So, I think this is where, um, the end of year goals presentations will have that specific to each school. We you

064know most of the rankings is based on high school um some of them district but if you look at some of the work we've done like with Hagerty at the elementary schools they they've looked at all of the the data and reading and that is literally informed the purchasing of Hagerty and the explicit instruction there. I know that Jamie Slaney talked about that in her mid-year goals updates the tremendous growth there. So that is going to be part of those conversations. They'll be presenting data on that but if you have specific things that you would like them to present by school please send it to us. I mean, this is more of a general district-wide lens. If we dig into the schoolwide lens, they can tell you um more specifics about how each school is

065using the data to inform their instruction. That's what we like to hear at the the end of the year progress is um they did a great job presenting like here's our data at the beginning of the year, their MCCAST data, here are the things we're going to focus on, and now as we come back at the end of the year, reflection on that. So, based on those actions we took, here's the progress we made. Here's the things that we learned. here's what we need to focus deeper on for next year. Is it is it worth doing that over two meetings? So doing two schools and I mean sometimes I will admit that it gets a little it's hard to follow in and understand it. Yeah. And it's an interesting thing because we're we're looking at

066last year's data for the 3 through 8. If you were to plant the end ofear presentations by the principles last year, that would tell you that would explain this year the data that you were just presented on specifically for 3 through 8 and actually for the high school too. Yeah, it's a good point. And I hope they would they would share with us their current data like maybe data correct. But like we won't get the new MCAST data, the new AP stuff or whatever until like October. And that's why I think this could be important moving forward that I again I strongly recommend that we do this global rankings data assessment district-wide presentation in October or November. Either it probably should be separate from the goals. You could do the goals first and present this

067after want you know they need to just give you a heads up too Dian help me out here I apologize for putting you on the spot do you remember the window for I ready and I ac June though correct correct so the problem is the principles will not be able to report out on end of the year data for I ready and I excel if you're asking them to do it sooner that's I just want to be very clear about that yeah because they won't have taken it well I saw you have two presentations occasions one in in the fall with the sort of all the data that you have and then sort of and here in these action steps and then this is what we've done over the course of the year and sort

068of and how we're progressing against each other goals in the mid year and the end of the year but I want to kind of pull it out from just necessarily not all we can do it as part of for this year part of with the the school end of year stuff but I also think it's a separate piece of information it is it's broader than just the can can I just get a more specific too on the action steps on slide 30 where it says continue prek to 12 plus alignment of the [Music] curriculum. What are we do? I mean we we heard a lot about curriculum maps initially but what's going on right now in terms of continuing to do the alignment? Yep. So those are conversations in the curriculum meetings that they're having.

069That's what the curriculum coordinators are working on. Um it's kind of really looking at that scope and sequence making sure that you know the grade ahead and the grade below um are having conversations. We've been we've greatly improved with having building based curriculum leaders that um it's like really exciting to see I'll just give you an example like um Carla Krauss who's the STEM person at the middle school and Ashley Buchard who's a STEM person at Miller get together all the time and are having conversations about what they're seeing right and what they're not seeing. So um just kind of by restructuring it that they have more time to have those opportunities, they are looking at that all the time in a continuous basis and then using that knowledge in um either faculty meetings or

070curriculum meetings that they have to kind of drive that mo work forward. You know in this grade we saw that we're lagging in this. So where which grade is going to pick this up? Let's have a conversation about this. And that's and you're going to talk about that May first, but I do that's exactly why um at the middle school we talked about I think um a couple of presentations ago about the teachers having moved down some of the grade eight standards to grade seven and seven to grade six. That's that is also part of the work they're doing. They're constantly looking at where they can cover standards differently and how they align. So that work has been ongoing. Mhm. We just had a Miller leadership meeting today and there was a conversation also Brian

071was talking about um having a conversation about some English standards and they were doing that in a curriculum meeting at Miller and they were talking about um we're going to be talking about standardsbased report cards when we do the presentation on May 1st for the elementary schools and they were having a conversation about um where the standards need to touch be touched upon and what they're doing for that standard and show the pro the progression of your what your understanding used to be in third grade versus fourth grade versus fifth grade. Um so they are having those conversations all the time and we'll be coming back once the standardsbased report cards are finalized we'll be able to come back and share those as well. Correct. And in terms of curriculum review, I know it says

072implement the new curriculum for math below it, but what new curriculum have we identified for what have we reviewed this year that we're bringing on new curriculum for for next year? We are we have been working on the ELA curriculum review and the meetings are going to have to be restructured. Um, we're not going to Do you want to take this? I mean, I think we're going to we we do need to look at when we're taking teachers in their um classrooms because that's been quite a challenge and um trying to make sure teachers are getting their prep time has impacted our ability to do the reviews and so we're coming up with another plan for that. So, we are actually probably going to we're going to have to restructure how we're doing this. A

073few years ago, we did some of that work um in the summer that teachers did some of the hours and then they would continue that work after school. And I think that's the model we're going to have to go back to given some of the recent changes that we've been um asked to look into. I don't know how anyone else feels, but I guess this is like my thing, but I would really like a recommendation on, you know, whether we we want to ask our high school students to take the AP exam if they take one AP test. I personally would would ask them to take at least one at least one. Right. Yeah. Now, I I'm not going to I'd like to hear from from Mr. List and and yourself about whether that is

074is your recommendation than before we could do it. But it's it's been a year and a half now since that sort of was a recommendation. And that was the recommendation that Mr. List came to um last year about that he was going to because we knew that we had the same schedule that he was looking to strongly encourage for this year and his hope was to then transition to requiring at least one for the following year. So that is where he was on track with and I do think um the hard part next year is you know we we were foreseeing a new schedule for next year. We're not having a new schedule next year but I still think we should be trying to move in that direction. I think the positive intent of allowing

075the student to decide final or AP will guide that like if they have to take both I have to take a final why would I take the AP? Well but that's that would be for the for the new schedule. I don't prefer not to wait though. No I get it but next year we could require first one or more, you're in a position where if we don't have enough scholar, that'll certainly help in the in in the future. But so can I also just add that that was not something you can do kind of midyear because you're making a change in like a handbook change and we only make handbook changes like during the summer for the implementation for next year. So like if the recommendation was from Mr. list at the end of the

076year that he would like for us to make that handbook change that students would take at least one AP exam if they're taking an AP class, then we could we could do that. But I think that's part of what he was moving towards anyway. We should be careful too not to scare away a student from taking an AP because now they're forced to take the exam. We got to balance that out. Mhm. But you just show up and you just take the exam. What I'm saying is if I have to take an exam, I may not take the class. Just as simple as that for a lot of kids just deciding to take the exam and just getting I think we should encourage for sure. Wait, but I mean I'm just saying but the recommendation

077was made in December 2023. We why can't we decide that now for next year? Not I mean based upon recommend based on recommendation yes but what what changes we should make to the program of studies and the curriculum as our correct administrator. So if if that's what he suggests that we do then sure. But so that's why I I I I posited as a question. Can we can we ask for a recommendation? He's I think he's already going to bring forward recommendations for changes to the end of the year. I can share that discussion and he can bring that up in the program studies discussion. That is what he said last year. I don't want to speak for him, but that is what I heard him say when he presented on this topic last year

078is that he was going to move and try to shift to encouragement. And then um many many districts do require at least one um but but but the reason this is timely also doing this now though is that we do want to see if we can we need to have some sort of scholarship fund or something. So I want a better understanding and analysis of what the the potential thought on the need would be for that because I don't want to implement something and then not have the money to be able to support those kids that that can't afford to take the exam. So we're in the middle of the budget season right now. So, you know, some of these things are driven by decisions that don't aren't necessarily optimal for for timing for um

079and I know they do have money set aside. I just don't exact amount, but he so far it has not been a problem what they've been able to um the students that need. But if we expect more then yes that would change. That's that's the point. Right now you're not some kids may not be taking it just because they can't afford and they don't want to ask. Now, if we're saying you're going to take it, but we'll get you a scholarship that I can imagine it's going to go down the demand for for for those scholarships. What percentage of students require assistance that do take the AP exams? Oh, I wouldn't know that off the top. We would have to ask special education how much support they get for that and what the accommodations are.

080I really don't know. No, I think Oh, financial side. Financial support. Yeah. I don't I don't know that. You know, a lot of times I don't know if we're going to if he's going to be able to give you that because as a past principal myself, I wasn't privy to that information. It's because that's confidential. You know what I mean? Like counselors knew it, but even as a principal, I did not know that. But we know how much we budgeted and how much we spent, right? that we could probably find out like how much we're giving. Well, so oftent time and I don't know about the high school, but like things that we're funding at the middle school, um it's like a parentto parent or it's like a there's a fund source run through the

081PTO that that goes through to the counselors to pay for things confidentially. So that's like not even run through the linearly. So I just we'll we'll check on it. I know he told me that there was money available. I just would have to dig into but I know within our student activities accounts we do we do and have the ability to cover uh cover tuition and things that might need to for specifically for field trips or for things like that or whatever within student activities. So maybe you can follow up Mr. List on just on the financial piece of it. I did want to u mention just if you go to the last slide, Jod Renee um has been really helpful helping set up the dashboard, helping to train and support staff with the dashboard.

082It started out with just administrators having access and then we did move it to the interventionists and tutors and then um we'd like to get it more out to more staff but we also don't want to overwhelming them because when you the more data you look into then you start also questioning things and we want them to question but we also don't want to overwhelm them because they're also trying to grow their craft and learn new math resources and other things as well. But she's been a real help with this process. Thank you. She compiled all the um not the the dashboard was the easy one. I just took screenshots. I got the easy job. She was compiling all the other graphs and yeah, another product. So awesome. Thank you. Yeah. Any more questions? Okay,

083we don't have any policy though. We had 20 minutes set aside for policy. Not sure I was thinking there. um central office uh updates. So, I have just had more um round table discussion at the high school the other day. I you know, it's been uh fun being in the buildings, you know, a little bit more and and getting to talk to kids as much as possible. I had Monday, I had my high school um principal for the day and then Tuesday I had my roundt discussion. So, I did get to talk with a lot of kids more so on Monday than Tuesday. I think they saw me so much on Monday that they were kind of like, I don't need to go see her on Tuesday. But um it was great to be in

084classes as much as I could um throughout the day. And then today we had our unified basketball game at Rams with our fire department and police department. So I was planning on attending and Dan and I were actually working on the data again. so did not get to attend, but um they had a great time and it's always it's near and dear to our hearts to see our kids enjoy playing basketball with their peers. So, it's wonderful. On Monday, I had the pleasure of attending a 18 grant convening with principal list and Tom Lec, a teacher here at the high school. Um we were awarded $18,000. Mr. journalist wrote the grant from 18 to implement the project lead the way program that you guys have okay the um classes on this coming year it's really

085exciting there's over 170 districts now in the state that are using project lead the way um it was that's near and dear to my heart because I taught all hands-on but just so you know project lead the way they call it APB based which means it's activities projects and problems in activities it's when the students students are building their knowledge and skills. So that's like the teacher directed part of it. Then you go on to the projects part where the students are practicing their skills that they know they they learn from the teacher. And then finally in the problem they are actually applying their knowledge and it's all student directed. So it's very exciting. I've had it in districts I've been in the past fully buy in. Um, it's really exciting to see the direction

086we're taking and it's very exciting to see how passionate Mr. LC is about teaching it and what he's going to be able to do at Hollist High School. Um, I wanted to give you a quick update. Uh, Dr. Kusca sent out a district newsletter. Please check it out. There is a student opportunities act update which we are recruited we are required to submit to DESIE. So that's in there. But they do ask about the steps that we have taken and in there I had to talk about purchasing the data dashboard having professional development on the data dashboard that we have I ready um and for both progress monitoring and tier one and tier 2. We had a talk about um purchasing the Eureka math squared and the reveal math which is both considered high quality

087instructional materials by Desi. Um I talked about the project lead the way curricular resources world language curricular resources that we purchased and then went into what we are going to do. Um, I talked about additional curricular supports for English language learners. Um, a potential additional ELA teacher for the um, elementary schools. And then really um improving upon our night that we had last year that Dan helped out with so much and Jody Renee, we did over 17 local vendors for our multil- language learner families about resources they could access such as legal resources, things like that. So um that's all on there so you can check it out. It's included in the newsletter. Great. Thank you, Jordan. Uh just to reiterate uh what uh Dr. Pesca had mentioned about the Rams unified basketball game. Um,

088you know, I just want to say a big thank you to Allison Ditto Castwan uh and to Marie Reio who are kind of the the coaches uh of the team. Uh they it was a wonderful game to watch. They blew out the fire and police department. Um so uh you know congratulations to our students um there. um got a chance to um talk with Chief Stone and um you know gave him some whether he needs to give his guys some some pointers um on their skill sets but um needless to say it was a blast. We had um over 100 uh folks that were there uh in attendance um music celebration um great time, great fundraising opportunity for uh the program as well. um you know there is another resident who happens to be an

089area administrator of a competing district um who immediately called their director of special education and said why don't we have this uh as well so um congratulations to that crew uh to Jess bey bringing this here for us it's a lovely and wonderful thing that we have as a town of Holl um sub reports communications I to report um policy and superintendent evaluation. Nothing. Okay. Budget. No, I think we'll have a meeting before our next school committee meeting. We attended the the capital uh subcommittee meet, finance committee, capital subcommittee meeting. But else? Yep. Um the house uh budget did come out. It was slightly better. I don't know what the the finance committee is meeting tonight uh annoyingly. Um, certainly not able to attend to see what they're they're doing, but I'm sure I'll hear

090um the House budget was slightly more favorable for us than than the uh uh than the governor's budget, but they'll have to decide what they end up wanting to use as far as the model goes. Um so just quickly we need to just change update our our capital request for May to um reflect uh a new recommendation for high school c high school supplies now that we're pushing off any change in the schedule until 2627. the materials we needed to to implement that change are no longer needed. But during that process, um a number of things were identified that uh could needed need to be um addressed sooner um and would also need to be just adjusted in general like micros, you know, replacing microscopes and things like that. It's uh so the 48,300 is

091now 23,600. Um if anyone wants a breakdown of it, I think I don't have in front of me, but Dr. Jordan can provide it or we can just vote to uh update to that number number as you talked about last time. Yes. Yes. Is that Oh, yeah. Did I put that number in front of you? Yeah. Yeah. Good. Look at me. So, this is replacing existing. It wouldn't be beneficial for 2627 when we do need to expand. It would be beneficial. Okay. Having equipment that works is always bene. So, um does anyone have any more questions or Okay. So, I'll entertain a motion to u update our our capital request for $23,600 uh for high school uh supplies. Moved by Don. Second. All in favor? I will relay that to the chair of the uh

092finance committee budget sub uh capital subcommittee. Um the uh we we just had a cap we just attended the capital subcommittee meeting this afternoon. Uh everything still remains very tight. Um, and we are going uh diving into the the couch cushions for for money. So, I don't know if uh Dr. Jordan wants to talk about that, but we're looking back at past appropriations. So, yeah. So, um the uh Fincom has asked um the town departments to asked the uh acting town administrator to have the town departments to look at um older uh capital accounts or that were appropriated at different points in time. um that may have either gone stale or whether they're still in use and find some kind of like update line by line of where they stand. Um even within the school

093system, the school system, I'd say that the predominance of the capital that we have is still in use. Um our big ones are the recently uh acquired the 1.25 million for the RAM's roof um is still sitting there. So that that's the largest chunk within the capital for for us. Um including um a small remaining amount about $121,000 in capital for um uh for HVAC. Uh we did do a $330 something,000 uh rooftop HVAC unit at the middle school that we installed over the winter break. Um there are however uh there are some other smaller line items that let's say for example may have had you know $100,000 of technology line items at different points that are wittleled down to like 2,000 and $3,000 or smaller amounts that may have not been spent against in

094the the last couple years. Um what they're asking for is that all towns departments go through their accounts, those capital accounts from past projects uh to see if they could that we could do some as a town do some sweeping of uh as the term that they used of some of these accounts that have very specific guidelines of what you can spend the money on. Um and that if we're past those points and deadlines, we can pull that into uh into the town. So Dr. Jordan, Dr. Cassie will work on a recommendation for us and then uh probably at the the April May 1st meeting we'll have a recommendation. All we need to do is vote to allow the town to release them and then the town can can do that. It can also be

095done by town meeting but it's it's easier if we just do it and that way they can use it as for planning. Um okay any more questions about capital. Um okay moving forward. I put on here, but I don't know if we have any update on the on the math leveling thing just in case there was there was anything, but there doesn't have to be. Well, I think we're we're still planning um and getting a ready to release a communication to invite U members to join the subcommittee. Great. Um, and then, uh, so I I' I've had a couple questions from from parents and stuff about the the eighth grade algebra one for for next year and how the geometry standards are going to be sort of delivered. So, I was just hoping maybe we

096could get an update on that and then maybe have a discussion about well, I'm just I'm curious how the geometry is going to be delivered uh to to students who aren't getting those eighth grade standards next year because they're doing a full year of algebra 1. Yeah, I did share some information that Karen had shared. um with me and and you know this is the gap year because um the the vote happened last May that we'd be moving to elder one for the 25 26 school year and as I shared in the past some of the planning had already happened that they've started to adjust putting the standards down some of the seven into six and some of the eight into seven but it's not something that could happen in one year so the I

097you know I I don't want to speak too much for Karen but they the math team is working with her and they have um started to map out how they're going to integrate it all. Yes, we're still looking to put for students two years of math into one if they haven't done the math 8. So students that are going into algebra, full algebra 1, we're getting math 8 and most of algebra 1 without those geometry standards. So now they have to get make up math 8 and algebra 1. Um so in one year it's going to be hard for those kids to do, but the teachers are willing to do that work and they're taking on that challenge. But kids will have to do some of that work in another time frame because it still

098is more that they can fit into one math block and day. And so that will be during an arts elective or arts. I believe that's what she had shared out. But um but that's something again that they're still working out some of the kinks and that there aren't really any other times in the day because they have they have their four cores and they have um the world languages. So that takes up five of their six blocks. Right. And will it be direct instruction or I'm just how will it be? How will the students be learning the standards? So I wish Cara was here to speak to better. I have not been in those meetings with her but my understanding is that the teachers are working so that they would end up having um some

099they would be looking at the kids taking some of that work through and then they would determine which standards they were struggling with and a math tutor will be available to help them just like they would be getting intervention blocks. So, but it won't wouldn't be a teacher a certified teacher in the room necessarily. No, just like we do with our intervention blocks. We don't have certified teachers doing the interventions either. Be similar to that model. So, what happens is the interventionist um and they also can do some enrichment. Our intervention teachers oversee that work and they then they help the tutors then implement that work. So, that would be the same process. I think I I don't know what other people feel like, but I think it might be helpful if we can look

100to see if there's a solution that does allow for for there to be some some an educator in there. I don't you know, obviously there are many many uh guard rail guides to to doing that because it would potentially mean moving um a teacher around or or or some other type of offset. But I I do think that especially because it's for one year. Um I did speak with Karen about this. Y her description of her plan for next year kind of alleviated some of my concerns where she talked about a specific person she wanted to hire who has a strong math background would work closely with the um instructional coach in math and provide a model that was a combination of direct small group instruction and Il okay and the way that she laid

101it out um is it 100% perfect but it sounded like it is a promising um I guess plan B I guess and I believe the person that she's thinking of is a certified teacher if I'm not mistaken. So it was it just a bonus that this person is the person seems interested in doing it for other reasons as well is very excited about it. So again I don't know if she's finalized that position for sure but that's the direction she's been moving. I think that that is great. Um, I just think that there as soon as we we have it solidified, communicating that to teacher to to uh to parents would be helpful because there were some parents that were like, "What? You know, my kids going to be going and losing art, not only

102losing art, but then just kind of like doing a self-guided tour of EXL for for geometry and and I think that's at least perception that I've heard from from some people." Yeah, I would say I mean the model works well now when we when we're looking again even though we're looking this is more I don't want to say enrichment because these are standards that they need. So it's not really enrichment, but in some ways it's enrichment because we're pushing them further than they would have been able to go before. So similar to when our kids are struggling, we identify what the needs are, whether through um the programs or through teacher input, and then the interventionist looks at the needs of those students, and then they help provide the support either through a teacher or

103a tutor model. So it does work very well um with our tutors in the building currently. So I they feel confident that it will be a I think the questions we're getting are are parents are trying to balance like if they're making a choice for next year. Is it worth um thinking about the needs of their child and the way that their child learns? Is this a good model for their kid? Um do they want their kid to have a double math block and give up one of their arts blocks like what trying to understand what the model will look like so they can make that decision. Right. Yeah. Year too. Yeah. Is it would it be feasible since there are a set number of standards that we know we need to work into their

104schedule some way shape or form. Is it something that if once they kind of achieve those standards or then they can go back to whatever their normally scheduled arts I see I think that it would be the students a great option as well. Pick them up quicker and not need as much support and might be able to do them independently. There are some students that can teach themselves even without or even if they want to do a little on their own outside. I would say the precedent for intervention even if that intervention is excelling a student is um you are out for a chunk a window of time an intervention block of time 6 weeks whatever that is and then you go back into the course. I think if you're looking at um accelerating a

105student or providing them some additional concepts, a similar model would could take effect as well. We're intervening on both ends of the spectrum. So, so when we say we're pulling them out of an arts block, other than art, what else are we pulling them out of? Our unified arts. Um I I can't speak to I don't know enough to say like exactly which of the ones that we're looking at cuz I'm I'm my guess is what is left out of that is is world language. Um we look at world language almost like the fifth core um in the town of Hollist. So like that unless you know that doesn't fit fit into their schedule. So then you're looking at depending on the number of days in the cycle that you're that you are that she

106has planned will determine the art class that the unified arts class it would be. So that could be that could be art that could be a band or chorus or general music. That could be um a uh computer science class. um it is likely not um a PE and health uh due to some require state requirements that are associated with that. And I'm sorry, David, were you saying it could also be world language that they could be pulled on? No, I was saying that not all students take world language even though like we we the town that we almost all of our students take a world language. Um there are students that that do not um based off of choice and needs um that they might be or things that they as a family and

107as a student are pursuing. Right. And and maybe an important part is also again communicating that we have great programs after school like art club um and band and chorus that they could potentially be part of to try to fill that window if we're pulling them out for Y. But I do to to Sarah's point, the hope would be that some of the students that are flying fast will be able to return quickly. If they need more support, they'll stay a little longer. And they said that Karen said that when she was here. Yeah. Well, apologies to Karen for for doing that when she wasn't here, but uh the board communication with with the parents uh just the better as as more information is is solidified and known. I think one thing like you had

108said Hillary she told me that she's been having a lot of um one-on-one conversations with parents and people are feeling better when they have those questions addressed but you know when it's uncertain there's going to be more questions about it. I know we're using geometry as the mechanism for this, but I like the creative thinking that Karen in the middle school is doing as far as how we modernize even unified arts and the flexibility based off of like the desire from the community for like how the community evolves and what types of things they're looking within within that program and course offerings. I think that that's a flexible area. What do students want? What do families want to see within those courses or those those time periods? Yeah. Okay. But I mean the nice part

109about all of this is the we're trying to give opportunity to more students to take these you know that's really about trying to open up more pathways for students and for some it's going to be quite challenging um because they're they're pushing themselves but if they want to achieve we want to give them those opportunities. Great. Okay. Um good. The uh last item on our agenda is some some new business. Um, and I think just just a quick bit of context and this is really more just to sort of start this. I don't anticipate having a lot of conversation tonight unless it's needed. But um you know during the uh discussion with the um the contract negotiations there was we discussed the fact that now that the the teachers day would be you know officially

110ending when with the students day and the traffic and especially at the high school but also at other at other other schools for um for teachers that did need to leave for child care for you know other other reasons. Um, and so we we pledged as part of not obviously officially part of the the agreement, but we pledged to look at uh sort of the flow of traffic uh getting out. So I want just wanted to make sure that we were sort of honoring that commitment and we brought it up. I don't know if that's begun or thought of already, but yeah. So, uh, a major I', I'd say a a major start to it was really solidifying one our school policy around, um, uh, our walk zones and our transportation policy. Um, our walk

111zones, we can start to build kind of like where where our hot spots will be and how that will flow. So, we were able to kind of um, do that. So we're we're those walk zones along with eligibility will go out the first week of May to families. Um we'll from there we'll start to kind of get um what our uh actual transportation our true act uh transportation needs numbers will be and where kind of our community placements will be and have a good understanding of our traffic patterns for our buses as far as pickups. Um that said is um on our campuses um like specifically looking at like the Lynen access road for pickup and drop off uh for the elementary school. Um I have met uh Matt Robot and I have met with

112Robert Walker uh and James Keith to look at that road. What are we thinking shortterm and long term? So, I do have quotes for um a layover uh and then some like old groundup asphalt filling the big holes type of quote. Um and part of that conversation which we've we've talked about in some of our capital meetings and some of our other meetings is um there on the the the capital improvement plan for the town. um are some requests, past requests for for this year, next year for improvements to sidewalks and parking lots at the on the elementary sc campus and the high school campus. Um the idea was to delay that until we had a good understanding of the traffic flow as well as uh the potential flag project that will be done there

113and whether that will warrant needing to move from a single lane to a double lane to increase parking from there. whether it doesn't make sense for us to spend $30,000 on an overlay of a road to then tear it up 9 months later to redo it in a different way. So, that's kind of where that stands. Um, I have uh met with the principles on a regular basis. Most recently, we met today um to talk about um you know any uh conversations that they've had and to start to think about that again. Um, I have spoken with and and next week I'm meeting with Officer Keefe uh to look at the high school specifically. I've spoken with um Chief Stone and Chief Cassidy as well. Um I have a meeting in the works for with

114Chief Cassidy and Chief Stone um as well to look at um you know traffic flow as a whole in the community and what that will look like. I'm gonna, you know, bat my eyes and really cross my fingers that I can get him to maybe escort us across uh Washington. We'll see how that while that goes. Uh because that will help things. But also just to kind of get an update um on it. It does seem that the bridge project uh arch bridge project seems to be on on track um according to the select board uh which will also have an in impact on our traffic flow as well. just just specifically because I don't I think you kind of alluded to it, but have conversations been had to help uh get students and teachers

115off the high school campus more efficiently at the end of the day. So, so part of that is is our ability to so is one is our traffic pattern on how we we're using that as far as working like that we have control over. Um, and then part of that is some conversations with, you know, uh, Chief Stone and our SRO as far as ability to to get traffic, um, out and onto the roads and and cleared out, um, as well. So, but yeah, our our the principles of plan at specifically the Woodland campus um how we will flow out so that we're not we don't have any stoppage of of traffic and when we're going to release buses versus when we're going to release families um at those times in order to kind of

116prioritize buses to kind of get out and get their routes out and about. So, okay. So, did you say they know when when is a Woodland Street going to be open? Did they have an actual date for that? I told I told them August 26th and they left. Um I know. I'm like I'm just wondering because I feel like I think the RFP I thought the RFP I thought the RFP was September one. I've heard September 6th was the RFP. So it's getting to be problematic for the first few days. Yeah. Well, it you know the first two weeks of school are always kind of messy anyway, but for us to be able to map out being able to use Woodland need it more than ever though. There's a certain resident who is posting daily

117updates on halls. Be happy. He may be a former select board member, but um that something's happening. I believe that something's happen. It looks great. I mean, it is there. It is happening. It's It looks like it's a big project. I can't It's a lot of money. It took a lot of time. There's no way it's done in like four months. It's still four four and a half months. It looks like a disaster right now. Like that's what happens when you fix things. You have to blow it up first and you bring it back together. Sounds like a kind of like anyway. Um um wait, you just did you mentioned um you were going to comm start communicating the first week of May with people to help them understand is that specifically anyone who's who

118wants to take the bus? Who is it just people who want to take the bus? These are your So it's two uh pieces of communication. one uh recently kind of our spring newsletter went out with just some information about like what's looming with start times and bus buses. Yeah. The what the communication that comes out the first week of is very specific to an to each individual family with their eligibility and then their map. So it's every family will get their own individual um uh email on how to register whether they're eligible. We'll include the wa the the walking zones. I'm in we're getting it out early because we're I'm anticipating a lot of questions and frustration as far as some of those walking zones. Um what we are we we we will be advertising

119to some families um specifically the elementary schools on the far outskirts um in our walk zone. Uh we are looking at um one of the spots is that we we are going to offer one bus stop for as a mass walk zone to there on the far outskirts of one of our walk zones. That's the in our walk zone is the furthest of distance away from uh our elementary school. Um and there are there's a high enough concentration of families to warrant just like a single stop in that space that we would offer to families for there. Otherwise, the walk zones, we've we've spent a lot of time looking at our walk zones as far as what makes sense. Yeah. Just glad to hear you're putting it out. Let let people know and plan and

120adjust as needed. So, thank you. All right. Well, if there's nothing else, that does bring us to the end of our our public agenda. Um we we do have a reason for executive session. Um but we will release the public about two hours early. So So, you know, You guys should feel free to go by the rest. These last three schools, they've been amazing. Had three in a row. Don't worry. May first May I know? Yeah, they've been they've been submitting. Maybe that's the May 1 is going to be a doozy. David, will you have school choice numbers at the next meeting by any chance? I think we said May May 15th was the Yep. May April 15th was the the last day for applications for school choice. We'll then do an analysis of what

121we have and then we'll bring numbers to you all. Y thank you. So I will I was going to ask Don know if you can get us um the budget sub potential date so that we can see when we're available just cuz people are some people are away next week. Okay. Okay definitely do that. Um okay. Well, I will now entertain a motion uh to adjourn from open session for executive session from which we will not return for the purposes of conducting strategy sessions and prepare preparation for negotiations with non-un personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union personnel. And this is for the student services director and the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. I think I said for you will not return but reiterating that. Do I have that

122motion? So move. Second. That does require a roll call vote. Frank, yes. Hillary, yes. Joe, yes. Sarah, yes. Cynthia, yes. Don, yes. And I am a yes. Thank you very much. We stand adjourned into executive session. Thank you and good night.