001Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Penrook School Committee meeting Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025. Uh again, this meeting is being recorded. If you have any questions, you can send them to SCinfo at pembbrok12.org. The superintendent will be following the box, but if you would all join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Do we have any public comment from our public comment? No. Here we go. Uh, acknowledge your scheduled visitors. Thank you for coming. How's that? Pretty good. Um, adjustments to the agenda. >> There is one adjustment to the agenda. Um, under my report, we're going to talk a little bit
002about a MS SAA waiver for cheerleading. So, cheerleading is not an MIA sport, but they do um require a waiver for an invite eighth graders. So, I forgot to include that, but >> okay, we can fix that. Not a problem. Communications >> any >> uh I had I had just one. Uh so the state put out a draft uh graduation requirement um document on the 1st. I made a post about it so you can go and take a look. Um it has some initial information about what they are looking for for graduation requirements. Again, it's a draft, not something that's final. Um but if you need the link, it's on my Facebook page or you could just Google it. I'm sure you can find it pretty quickly. You know, so I I did see the
003paper today and it looked like to me there was more questions than answers. >> Yeah, I was trying to read it and I found the article very confusing to follow. >> Yeah, it's about I think it was like over a hundred pages, so it's a dense document and it's a draft so you should only look at it if you're really interested. >> Yep. [laughter] And the highlights are that you all just approved our competency determination policy and when this draft is done, we'll make changes to that policy. So, >> yay. >> Uh approval. >> He hasn't done yet. Okay, good. Um, okay. I'll take a motion for consideration of approval school committee meeting uh minutes of November 18th, 2025. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Moved by Allison, second from Katrina D. All those
004in favor? >> I opposed. Abstaining. Natalie, it's 5-0. In honor of my friend Patrick. Um, superintendent report. >> Perfect. The first thing [clears throat] under my report is our fiscal year 27 maintenance of effort budget presentation. Um there's just a handful of slides. I'll talk a little bit about kind of where we're at in the process, some of the assumptions that we're making and a little bit more about the timeline in which things will become a little more clear. Um so at the request of Allison, I did update the pictures on the cover slide because the children that were on there before graduated from Penrook High School 6 years ago. So [laughter] these are children that still mostly go here, but I can't guarantee they also go here. So we'll talk just a little bit
005about where we're projecting 2027 to go. again the assumptions that I'm making in that and there are a lot of assumptions given the fact that it's only December 2nd and then timeline and next steps for the budget. So our fiscal year 26 budget is $40,457,50. Um fiscal year 27 maintenance of effort so doing everything that we're doing this year at next year's prices would be $41,280,729. So that's a difference of $823,679. You can see below there's some historical increases over prior fiscal years. we are in good shape um to where we have been in the past. I do want to remind folks that we would be $457,000 um of a greater difference if we did not get that supplemental funding at town meeting. So it would be more in the 1.2 $1.3 million range um
006of a difference, but we did secure that funding at the fall town meeting that was a combination of some revenue associated with new growth as well as the increase in chapter 70. Um here's the fun part. So there are a whole host of assumptions in our fiscal year 27 budget. As you've heard us talk about um pretty much at each meeting since January, we are currently still negotiating the four successor contracts for our units with the PEN teachers association. So there is an assumption in our fiscal year 27 budget um for those bargaining agreements as well as a reminder that our fiscal year 26 budget is still not certified because we are still using just an assumption um on those bargaining agreements. So there's like an assumption of an assumption in fiscal year 27. I
007am optimistic that when we meet again um on next Monday, December 8th, that we will be finalizing our financial packages and we'll [clears throat] be able to come back to you with a more concrete number. But again, at this point um there is a placeholder in there. Um special education tuition does really eb and flow pretty significantly over fiscal years. Um we are projecting about a $212,000 increase. Um, so the operational services division, which is the division of the state that sets the tuition rates, is projecting a 3.04% rate increase. That rate increase won't be finalized until the first Wednesday in February. Built I built the budget off the 3.04, but that could go up or a little up or down depending upon where that lands. Um, transportation increase. So, we are next year would
008be the first year of our two-year options um on our first student contract. So, for those of you not familiar with our bus contract, it's a three-year contract with two option years exclusively at our will. Um, we have bid transportation pretty regularly in the past. First Student is the only bus company that has ever bid on the transportation here in Pebbrook, mostly because they have a lot here in Pebbrook, so it's it's pretty convenient for them. Um, but we don't use that as a reason not to bid. Um so last the last round you'll remember that we had two option years we could exercise with for a student and we chose not to um because of the numbers they were quoting us. We did go out to bid though they were the loan bidder. Their
009percentage came in 3% lower than what they had originally quoted us. So um we are still looking at potentially going out to bid this spring. Um this is uh the transportation contract increases based off a four-year rolling average um for first student, but it could go up or down depending upon what we decide to do with that. Um each year we try to do special education pre-bby. So um special education tuition is the one thing that municipal finance allows you to prepay. So you're able to use fiscal $26 to pay for fiscal year 27 tuitions. Um we have been fortunate enough to do that for the past six years here. We would like to continue to keep that going moving forward. Um there are still a few spots in our um special education current budget.
010there there are placeholders for students that are still in an evaluation process or still looking for a placement um or changes in placement. So that number itself is not finalized yet but will um finalize probably over the next month or two. Um students usually find their home by the end of February or so. Um and then circuit breaker. So Pemrook is one of the few districts left in the Commonwealth that uses their circuit breaker reimbursement one year after they receive it. Most districts are using them as the payment comes in quarterly. Um, so next year for fiscal year of 27, we will use the funds that we brought in this year. So that's a little over $2 million. That's based off the uh 75% reimbursement for instructional expenses and 61.36% for transportation. For those not
011familiar with circuit breaker, when circuit breaker was first rolled out, the intention was to reimburse at 100% over the um foundation threshold. So any cost over um the threshold is set at what the average collaborative tuition is for the state. Originally the plan was to reimburse at 100%. We've never seen 100% reimbursement, but we have seen as low as 35 and 36%. So 75% is a healthy number. Um transportation is a new piece to circuit breaker. 3 years ago they started reimbursing for transportation. It started at 50% and has gone up a little bit each year. So as long as that keeps moving in the correct direction, that is great. Does that cover special ed transportation also? >> So that's anything that we spend to transport a student to a not a strict placement. Okay.
012>> We can submit for reimbursement over a certain enforcement. >> Um special education tuition is one of those um line items that seems to be a significant dollar amount. Um so just showing folks kind of where we've been in the past. I know Jess has presented over the past couple of years that our out of district numbers have stabilized and even come down a little bit. Um, so you can see that reflected in our tuitions there. So again, for fiscal year 26, it's a budget number based off of some placeholders that still have not come to fruition yet, but we are projecting this year to be just over 3 and a.5% below where we were last year. Um, and next year coming down another 4%. So as that finalizes, that maintenance of effort budget will
013come down as well. So lots of assumptions. Chapter 70. Um our first look at chapter 70 usually comes the third [cough] Wednesday [clears throat] in January. Um so we are looking forward to that over the next couple of weeks and months. We'll work together um with the select boards budget subcommittee and have a joint meeting. Um we'll work together administratively and with department heads to put together those presentations that you all enjoy so frequently that we come and give you our kind of pie in the sky wish list and then tell you that we can't afford anything, but it's nice to have goals. Um, so we'll start to do all of that work as the calendar shifts over to 2026. That is it. Again, it's a it's early. We used to do this presentation in
014the end of January and we have pushed it back a little bit um in order to kind of get information out there earlier. Um, but again, it is mostly built off of assumptions. >> I had one question. Thank you so much for that presentation. I feel like there was a lot of historical information that was helpful to have. Um, one quick question was about the sped tuition increase. What what has that been historically like? Is it usually around? >> So, it usually it had hovered anywhere from like 2 to 4%. But 2 years ago, it went up 14%. Okay. >> Um, so there was a lot of feedback from municipalities when that went with that sharp increase 2 years ago. So, I I do believe that they'll come in close to that 3.04. And there
015was some uh relief that was given to districts for that huge increase. >> Yeah. Got it. Okay. So, usually around 2 to 4%, but sometimes it can spike. Yes, >> it shouldn't spike, but I know that that was a mis I think it was a miscalculation on the state's part. So, yeah, was interesting. >> Allison, any questions? >> Will this go on the website soon? >> Tomorrow. Yep. >> We'll start a FY27 budget tab and this will be the first thing I know. >> Uh, soon? >> Nope. I'm good. >> Trina, no, we're good. Um, the only thing I would say to the viewing audience, you know, people always talk about transparency and all that stuff. Here it is. you know, we're putting it out there. This is where people say, "You didn't tell us
016this." Yes, we're telling you this now and it's, you know, December. Um, it's, you know, the beginning of the process, but I've heard people say, you know, we didn't know about this. I said, I'm going to say respectfully, you're probably not paying attention. You know, you don't figure out the house is on fire until it's actually on fire. So, but um, okay, next up. >> So, I'm going to do the the waiver first before we turn it over to school approval plans. Um, so winter cheerleading at Peenrook High School, I think has a mighty four or five four students. Um, you need eight for a squad. I'm learning all of these things. It's nice for Brian when Brian talks about it with me how many cheerleaders I need and what kind of pom poms. Um,
017so we need eight. We are hoping to get approval to file a waiver with MSAA. So, the Massachusetts School Administrator Association really governs club clubike sports. Cheerleading falls under that rather than an MIAA sport. Um, we'd like to invite some eighth graders to participate. Um, youth cheer in Penrook is very strong. They have a good theater program. I think once students get to the high school, there's so many more choices and that's why the numbers fall off of it. Um, mostly more so for um, winter cheerleading as opposed to fall because fall has the competition piece and the football sideline cheer. Um, winter is a little bit slower. It's more basketball and it's it's a lighter season. So hopefully um, there's a handful of eighth grade girls that would be interested. Um, I think they've
018already been kind of practicing together. They often practice together with some of the youth groups. So, >> do we need this in the form of a motion? >> You Yes, I need con uh consideration for approval for an MSAA waiver for cheerleading. >> All right. Do I have a first or a second? >> Um, I'll make a motion um for a waiver for the what is it? >> MSAA uh waiver >> for cheerleading. >> Second. >> Okay, I've got a second. Uh, all those in favor? I >> I any opposed? >> Anyone uh in abstentia? No, we're good. 5-0. Thank you. >> Next up is school improvement plans. So, each of the building principles will kind of walk you through some of the highlights of their school improvement plan. I'll just remind you that you
019are just acknowledging the plans. The school committee does not approve um the plans as they are a document that is really um you know driven by the the school councils at each of the buildings. So, whoever wants to be first. Ashley, why don't you go first? >> Sure, I'd love to. Um, so the school improvement plans focus on five areas. So, I'll go through each of the five areas for Havoc. Um, just highlight a few things from each of the areas that we are looking at with our school council this year. So for achievement, um two of the bigger highlights for achievement, we're piloting two new programs at the elementary level. We are piloting simplified writing and foss science um in many classrooms at the elementary level. And so part of our school improvement plan
020is to continue to um roll that out over this school year and use our professional development time and PLC time at the elementary level to um continue to focus on the work done with those two programs. For social emotional learning, um one of the highlights here um that we developed at school council and with our student ambassadors is our new student of the week program. So recognizing a student from each home room and looking at the core value of the month and recognizing them through an incentive, excuse me, [clears throat] an incentive program that uh they are announced weekly on Friday. They recognize whatever that core value is. And like I said, it's one student per home room. They get to come down. They get a certificate picture taken and it goes out in our
021weekly blast. The students seem to really enjoy that. There's no actual prize for it, which is also nice. So, it's more of that intrinsic motivation that we're striving to have all students kind of develop over the course of the elementary years. Also, for social emotional learning, we are continuing with unified sports this year. So, our fourth, fifth, and sixth graders are currently enrolled in um an after school club that's partially best buddies, partially unified sport. So, they're doing a hybrid of both. Later in the year, we'll be partnering up again with the middle school for some of the fifth and sixth graders to engage in some of the uh activities, the sport activities with some of the other middle schools in the in the Commonwealth. So, we're looking at cornhole again. We're looking at basketball.
022So, we'll be doing a variety of activities. We also have a field trip planned in a couple weeks where they're going to um go bowling and do some arcade games and things like that. So, continuing to strengthen that program at the elementary and middle school level. For technology, we are continuing with a lot of our technology um interfaces that we're using at, you know, the district level, but at the elementary level, really looking at some of our digital subscriptions and kind of weighing their benefit versus the overuse of some of them and finding that healthy balance between kids in front of screens, but also the benefits that they have for some of our assessment guides. So, for example, McLass, I Ready and Dibbles are more of a teacherdriven interface that we're using to collect data
023and look at instructional groups, but then also looking at some of the digital subscriptions around um Lexia and I Ready things that the students are actually involved with and how much usage they're getting out of it. Making sure that we're not just buying things to buy it and they're actually being used with fidelity if that's where the district wants to go. Um, and then facilities and learning environment. Uh we capped off our playground project at the beginning of um sorry at the beginning of November, end of October. We had a ribbon cutting ceremony. So that was one of our strategies, one of our steps for our facilities and learning environment. And then continuing to just build maintenance using our building maintenance request system to really track and monitor the turnaround time for maintenance requests rather
024than just word of mouth and email. really using the facilities interface to kind of get people to log maintenance requests and then having custodians respond in that manner. It's just providing more organization for keeping track of things that need repair or service in the building versus, you know, calling a custodian or sending an email. Things sometimes get lost in the shuffle and then people are feeling frustrated that things aren't addressed in a timely manner. So, making sure that we're using the interface system that we have available to us. And then finally for communication, just continuing to streamline communication amongst all the stakeholder groups in the building, whether it be PTO, parent, community, staff, administration. Really just using the systems that we have in place such as Seesaw, Google Classroom, and making sure that it's accessible
025for all families, even though even those that don't have technology readily available on devices or phones and things like that. So, making sure that it's accessible for all in the building. And that is it. Excellent. Questions? Anyone? >> No. Did a great job. Sounds awesome. >> Ashley, you got off easy. See? >> Sure. >> I have Brian Phil next on the top of my list. Would you like to go again? >> Sure. >> So, I'm just going in order as they show up. [laughter] >> Um, let's see. You did see a lot. >> I know. Uh so our school council for achievement last year we had um sort of split it into two one on K to2 and one 3 to five so that we could pick like which metric of the we focus on
026and the teachers on school council decided that they would like to keep that this year and keep the metric. So, we're still looking in dibbles two and we're looking in I ready. Am I supposed to hear myself echo? >> Mhm. >> Yes. >> You get used to it again. >> Okay. But if I can't hear myself echo, does that mean I'm >> too quiet? See, >> fun feature. [laughter] Okay. >> Is that better? >> I am. Um, we especially wanted to stay with dibbles because Allison, as you'd mentioned, in the spring, we're really at that part where we're like with those kids that have been doing dibbles over time. So, we'll be able to not only just look at their growth this year, but we can look start looking at over time. And then our
027biggest uh focus with achievement that we started talking a lot about grade level last year and we've done a lot of work already this year is to connect to what Ashley was saying about the technology programs like really make sure really making sure the students are using it appropriately like there's recommended usage times there's recommended lessons to be completed And if kids are just going on to go on and you know it's saying they were on 50 minutes but they've completed two questions that's not utilizing it. So we've come up with ideas on like how to share strategies and ideas on how to ensure they're utilizing the programs correctly. So like second graders now come and get positive office referrals when they hit a certain amount of lessons. Uh fifth grade that one class just
028went outside because they earned extra recess for as a class hitting a certain amount of lessons. So really trying to like make sure we're maximizing what we have social emotional. It's a lot of the same work. Um, one of the things that we talked about use utilizing an upcoming staff meeting is, and I think I saw this in yours too again, Ashley, but really kind of thinking about the language we're using with kids. I know when I was teaching here, we did social thinking, so I'm so used to expected, unexpected, and I say those words all the time. But I really started thinking one day like we have a lot of new teachers. Does this kid even know what that means when I'm saying that to him? Have the teachers utilized that with him? So
029I think it was a district focus to use social thinking language, zones of regulation language. We have second step. People are feeling there's no real common language with second step. So like really just kind of looking at it to focus on what language are we using? what language do we think we all should definitely be using so that no matter where the kids are in the building they're hearing and getting that same language throughout. So that's one of our big focuses there. Uh communication we are going to jump on the communication survey that North did two years ago and have mock did last year. We haven't done that yet. So we're going to send that out. I'm actually hoping to have it available for conferences tomorrow and then put it in the blast Friday just
030to really see that same information of are we communicating in an effective manner. Sometimes it seems like we're blasting a lot of things and you know Carol Grindle's the only one liking or responding which we appreciate Carol for sticking around in our Brianville community but there's a lot more people in our Brianville community. Katrina I see you sometimes too. >> I try to go there sometimes. [laughter] >> But is it the most effective? Like are people on Facebook do are they more Instagram people now? like are we actually putting our resources out to make sure the families know what's happening? So, we're just curious to get information on that and then to bring in volunteers um especially with our library. Um we want to make sure that we're firming that up like Hub Mock and
031North have technology. We're really just same thing, trying to look at the programs, make sure we're utilizing it, and make sure we're hitting all our benchmarks within the other gold areas that connect to technology facilities. We got our gym roof. It was magical. There's not going to be a leak tomorrow. There's not, [laughter] even with this rain. Um, but there are a few other areas where they might. So, we're still looking and checking. And then our bigger focus was doors. like we all of a sudden had a whole lot of doors interior exterior that were like just not shutting all the way or like the latchy thing wasn't connecting. So really just to make sure especially the exterior and then some of the like LGI doors and the art doors, there's a gym door. Um
032just making sure that those are all like securely opening and shutting the way they're supposed to cuz it just ultimately comes to safety. Seems silly, but >> like if you have a lock down and you're in the LGI, you want to make sure the door functions. >> So, >> did I miss anything? >> Good. I print them at home. >> Questions? Anyone? >> I didn't staple it. >> No, just a comment to say. Um, I love um you know, thinking about the language use and having that be uniform. It's obvious like when you have a group of teachers and then it's been a few years and nobody had that training. So, it's smart to be looking at that. Um, and I think it will help a lot with student interaction. So, it's great. >> Mr.
033Murphy, I guess you get to go next. >> I've been waiting. >> So, um, obviously a lot of what, um, Ashley and Jenna have already kind of talked about are really applicable to North as well. I'm going to deviate just from that just a little bit just to kind of talk a little bit more about um um under achievement the early education part of it. So that that's one benefit we have here at North Penrook is housed in the preschool program and we've had a lot of great discussions um during common planning meetings with the teachers and the staff um as well as the PAR professionals. I actually got a lot of great information out of them. I've been having separate meetings with them just to kind of get in tune with where they're at,
034you know, as far as their needed job responsibilities. And one thing that we're we're continually finding is that um I don't believe that parents when they send their kids to preschool have a total understanding of what we kind of expect those skills that they're coming in with already. So, we've done some work around potentially um thinking about holding some sort of a a boot camp, if you will, um in the springtime and maybe aligning that with [clears throat] um the screening process um and you know, notifying parents, you know, these would be great things for kids to come in with. You know, can I zip my coat? Can I, you know, blow my nose? Things like that. Um and those are, you know, physical types of things, but there's also some pre-academic skills that they
035can learn as well. And we're kind of focusing on those. And I think what our vision is right now, and this is not my idea, this is a collective idea, is about um really kind of maybe having not just that list of uh skills that they're coming in with, but also like a to- go bag. You know, here's here's a group, here's some games that you can do on your trip down to the Cape this summer. Um and even if you have, you know, 20% of the the families utilizing it, it's going to kind of build some momentum. I think and I think it's something that we need to do because I think we're always looking at those MCAST scores and you know grades three and above but I think if we kind [clears throat]
036of scale down to the preschool level to kind of get those kids more ready um and also a little parent education is kind of where we're at. So that was a big explanation for achievement but I think that's a major focus right now. Um, as far as social emotional learning, we are looking at, um, I think I liked what Ashley had said about, you know, those tangible rewards and not really kind of where it's at, more the intrinsic rewards. And I think, you know, we want we want to catch kids being good and we want we want to do those positive phone calls home. So, um, we're about to start rolling out, you know, that, um, caught being kind of a program, um, because kids really respond to it. I was walking down the hallway
037today and a kid saw me behind him and he saw some paper towels on the floor. He made sure he picked up every one of those. I'll be calling that parent tomorrow to let them know that that's something I recognize. You know, even though he may have seen me, it's okay. Um things like that cuz I think when when you kind of, you know, bring that out uh and you make that available to kids and you know, you kind of caught being good, I think it goes a long way. Um the other thing that we're talking about with social emotional programming um or social emotional learning is um about really getting feedback from teachers um in real time. So we're designating right now part of our um staff meetings um to really kind of go
038over something I'm calling problems of practice. I think other people use that too. Um, but I'm using it for this and um, I'm collecting all of the feedback on a Google form after discussions are held at grade levels. Um, and I'm giving that back to them with some solutions that I can think of, but also looking for some solutions from the teachers. Um, so it's something that, you know, I think people can get frustrated with their day-to-day work with kids, but I think, you know, validating that, you know, something is wrong, but how we kind of go to fix it, it goes a long way as well. So that's a social emotional um under restorative practices. Um we are looking um more at developing targeted support plans for those kids most at risk. Right now
039um we really increased our um student support team and how we're operating that this year. Um it used to be just myself and our assistant principal Val and our school social worker and school um psychologist along with our school nurse. Right now, what I'm finding is we're bringing in more often um our behaviorists for the district um to kind of problem solve student issues in real time. And a lot of times what we're finding too is grabbing that teacher from the classroom. Can you spend about 10 to 15 minutes with us right now in this think tank because we want to make sure we get it right. So, it's that kind of um I guess um communication that needs to happen on a more regular basis. So, that's we're really excited about that. Um, and
040then I think, you know, as far as our mental health staff, leading more small groups on friendships and conflict resolution and things like that, I think we're all struggling with that right now, and I think that goes a long way as well. Um, as far as community involvement and communication, um, we're almost done here. I think, you know, the the use of the volunteers has gone a long way. Um, even right here in this uh room right now, we're in our second year of um not necessarily having a formal library session, but all the kids come in and they are able to check out books. And it's funny who you get for volunteers. It's not just the the moms, it's sometimes the grandparents. Um, and sometimes it's the mom of your reading specialist, you know,
041and they they come in and they're doing um all that work as well, which is really kind of neat to see. Um, and those people show up every single time we call them. So, um, and the kids really enjoy coming as well. So, um, I'm really happy to have them on board as well. And then, um, I think one thing I'd like to do, uh, more towards the new year is kind of reinvigorating our student ambassador program. Um, it was a club last year. It kind of fell by the wayside because we had new clubs kind of coming on. So, we're looking to do something more internally um, during the school day um, more clubike for that student ambassadors and really taking taking ownership over the uh, the school day. And then just the last
042thing about facilities, I know you guys got the playground, you guys got the roof, but we got some stuff, too. [laughter] Um, so, and thank you to the to the school committee for the the funding of the light project. Um, we're about 2/ird of the way through right now. I do envision that probably by end of January, beginning of February, it will be complete. Um, and um, it's been it's been really nice to see because the classrooms are so lit up. Um, but we also got some uh, plumbing done over the summer as well. Also, we I [clears throat] know I talked to you at my beginning the year of remarks um about um having um our water bottles installed. So, we have now seven working water fountains um uh which are all filtrated as
043well. So, um I think the one thing we're trying to do right now is I think similar to the other two schools is really get ahead of some of those bigger issues that are happening um in the buildings. I'm now doing quarterly walkthroughs of the building just for myself to get a a glance on that can really be addressed and maybe put that on the summer list. um because I think that if you don't do that, you tend to get lost in some of the work sometimes. So, I'm just putting on my calendar as well. So, >> those are my big takeaways. Any questions? >> Yeah. Well, >> no questions. >> Very impressive to three elementary schools. Donna, the pressure is on. >> Okay, here we go. All right. I wanted to start kind of
044on the cover page of mine. Um just to talk about student representatives. So, um I have this year 45 students in my student leadership. Um and a lot of seventh graders come in and they were some of them were in the ambassador program. Um and when I talked to and my eighth grade representatives had come up from seventh grade up into eighth grade. So I want to give them two years of experience and understanding how this process works and as well as like public schools and the nesting that happens. Um, so I used my eighth graders and they talked about their experience in this and I talked about like what this was to be on the school council. And um, out of probably 27th graders, I think 19 volunteers to be like put into a
045container to pull out, which I just thought was like really remarkable, right? This was this was probably like five weeks ago. Um, so anyway, our two seventh grade, uh, James and Ducet and Nathan Scobalov and Isa Drake and Lenoro are continuing with us. So, I'm excited to have them here and to learn the process. Um, we need engaged people in our public schools to be strong as a child. Um, and the middle school girl plan functioned a little differently than the um than the elementary. Um, in that a lot of it comes down to like departments. So, it's broken down a little bit differently. Um, and so I'm just going to like kind of do like puff one a little bit. Okay. Happy to talk about anything that because there's a lot here. Um, so
046my cap is that my career and academic plan. We're continuing that. That is um at least monthly lessons on college and career options to help kids see their um future and understand the importance of what we're doing in school now and how that builds. So that's kind of been an ongoing um the guidance one here under achievement. Um we used to do individual when I say we I mean the guidance counselors used to do individual progress report check-in at progress report time. So oneonone it would be pretty quick that they go through it. Um what the guidance council has found is that doing it in whole groups holds everyone accountable in a bigger way and also reinforces the message that we all have things that we're really good at. We all have things we need
047to learn from whether we're a really strong student or a student that struggles. So um the guidance comes to do this in whole group, have them do some goal setting and then pass it back out again to the students um at the end of the report card term about four times a year. And I think it really helps kids get to know themselves better as learners, which I think is a really important function of middle school. Um, sometimes I think is middle school is like being on a bicycle with training wheels, right? Um, it's kind of like high school, but it isn't. Um, and the training wheels come off and you're in credit bearing at the high school level. Stakes a lot. So, it's important that we kind of support kids to really understand themselves
048as learners at the middle school level. Um, I'm going to pop over to social emotional um I'm going to start with guidance again because that's the one I um so we're trying to build students executive functioning skills which is what we're finding um always but more so since co that students executive functioning skills is there's some real gaps there and what they're the guiding counselors are finding with the students is the students have found getting backpack cleanups to be like incredibly helpful and I know for myself when I've got a lot to do and I'm trying to procrastinate. If there's anything out of place in my house, you know, it's harder for me to focus, right? So, I think when kids have an organized backpack, their brain feels more organized. Um, so now they've been
049doing and it's amazing how many papers middle schools collect. Um, so but also helping them determine like what is something you need to save and what's something you don't need to save. So kind of working with them on that as well as some of the underlying skills is some of the things they're working on. Unified sports, Ashley talked about that. We do have a field trip coming up. So we're hoping I'm kind of selling it at lot at lunch. I don't know how your numbers are going, but I'm hoping to rev up some support for that. Um student leadership. I really want to talk about kind of service learning. Um service lead being like a a servant leader. um and thinking more about what we do to give back to the community. The students want
050to do disability awareness training again this year with younger students. Um and we just had a school dance and the profits from that went to student leadership and we're going to use that to do like a bag lunch program uh at Father Bill. [music] So um it took me a while to find um an opportunity. I wanted to take the kids to like a homeless shelter or something, but you have to be 16 or 18. Um, so Father Bill's office of program like in-house. So I'm working with my cafeteria manager and my school nurse who all want to be involved in doing this. So we're going to be booking that and using the props from that to buy food. Um, technology a lot of just using the program similar to finding out the balance between
051using technology and also doing one-on-one. So I had um I went through probably about six weeks ago and did like a um I went to each class and like how many were on the computer, how many's not on the computer and it was really interesting to watch that like over 50% of the classes that I tested were not on the computer at that moment. I did like it's interesting right because I think we do use it a good there's a good use of it but I do think there is a balance in in most of our schools with also doing paper based assignments which I think is important and communications just working on that I think that the challenge with communication is I think we communicate a lot but the other challenge is I think
052that parents are just inundated with so many things to do and how to sort through that so trying to figure out how we make sure that's a little more targeted to to give them kind of the right information kind of maybe at the top and less you know tons of information that maybe isn't as helpful >> um and facilities. Um, so I wanted to add in, although it's not I don't think it's in here. Um, I got a PA system, so that's been awesome. That works. And it actually is tied to our student information uh to our uh spell system. So like an early release day, it automatically um resets itself. It used to be like, oh my god, get the bells. Um and we have um a new weight room at the middle school
053uh which is earlier in the um and that's been really great with our strength and conditioning elective. We have a weight room which feels a little more like high school. So that's been really nice. Questions from me. >> Yeah, it's good. Go ahead. >> You ready, Mr. Talbert? >> I am. Good evening, everybody. [clears throat] The high school improvement plan has the same five categories as obviously the buildings. They're district goals and so our job is to help you meet your goals. Um for our achievement goals, we have two of them and they are driven by our NEAS um accreditation visit from one year ago, almost to the day. Um, we certainly had some recommendations there. That report was, I thought, very positive, but there were some recommendations for improvement. They called priority areas. Um,
054and in that report from last year, they essentially required us to develop our school improvement plan around those two priority areas. So, if you're looking at the plan, achievement goal one and achievement goal two, you'll see parenthetically at the end of the goal, I'm telling you where it's coming from, right? It's directly quoted from the NEAS report. Um, and in order for us to um, you know, get thumbs up at the three-year progress report, which at the right for NEASK in about two years, they want to see significant improvement here. In fact, I have a report due to NEAS in February. That's the first kind of benchmark they've set for me. Um, and and they want an update on what we've done with these two goals. And so that first go if you're reading is
055kind of a mouthful, right? It talks about a comprehensive approach to active learning strategies, diversifying assessment methods, um opportunities for reviions of work, um structured time for collaboration, um student agency, differentiated instruction. There's an awful lot there in one sentence. >> Um and I feel as though um some of the stuff that we're already doing kind of really captures that. And I think that NES message was certainly does, but we need more of it. And I'm talking about our project lead the way courses and that curriculum. Um it really is to kind of tail that that goal to me is speaking to the applied learning concepts. And so just to refresh your memory, we talked about this last spring as well at the end of the school year. Um our vision of our graduate and
056the four pillars of the vision of graduate align remarkably well with the five tenants of applied learning. Okay. uh they they they almost mirror one another and that was done completely coincidentally. We did not do that for any other reason than these are the things that we felt that we do every day when we created our vision of the graduate when exploring the applied learning tenants we realize the similarities. Um and so what we have in that first goal there is is a group of teachers who as part of their choice for professional development they are committed to working together as a small group. It's a small but mighty group that I'm calling early adopters where they're meeting during their professional development time. Uh they are sharing lesson plans with one another. There's five of
057them. And then they're looking at the applied learning tenants to see what's missing in this lesson plan. What what could you do almost like the plus one this lesson plan? Um and the goal then is to have that group towards the end of the school year present to the faculty some of their findings in in those collaborative opportunities trying to encourage other faculty members to to join in next year. >> So you can anticipate this goal being on the school improve plan next year as well. It is a two-year goal. It has to be a two-year goal. It's it's so broad. >> Yeah. >> Um but I am really proud of the work that they've done. um they're putting themselves out there, right? They're taking risk. They're taking their lesson plans. >> Yeah. >> And
058putting it out there for their peers to see and then they're accepting that critique, that feedback. >> Um and you know, that's how you get better. So, um we've got the rest of the year to go for sure. Um and I'm encouraged with the work that they're doing. Okay? So, stay tuned for that. We will not complete that goal by this year. I'll be clear on that. Okay? It's going to take another year to get other people to join on board. >> Right? But the project lead the way curriculum is really is is tremendous. It's complet it's it's got all those facets of student authenticity, student agency. They're doing the work, not the teachers, right? There's collaborative opportunities, revision, and perseverance and learning from your failures and trying again. These are all the things that
059we want to have all of our courses across the spectrum doing in the very near future. So, um I think it's a I think it's a um it's a challenging goal, but I think it's one worth pursuing for sure. Okay. Uh the second goal is also right from NIAK as well. Um and I know that those who've been in this business a long time know that we're always looking for professional collaborative time for our teaching staff during the school day. I've been hearing that for the 33 years I've been in education. It just it it's a problem that seems to never get solved. Okay. But um we we have to really take a hard look at that. If you notice the timeline for that goal, I intentionally set that for the middle of the year.
060It says late fall, early winter because as Erin mentioned, we're in the middle of negotiation second with the teachers and common planning time for high school teachers has been part of those conversations. >> So there certainly is opportunity that this goal gets satisfied through the negotiation process. um but it certainly may not. And so we have to then determine like okay now what? Now what? >> There are other schools that do it. There are other models out there that have structured time and a process. Um and so I already have staff members who are willing to serve on that committee when I convene it. Um I would imagine it would require some road trips to local schools to see what they're doing and kind of um observe their model. Um, but uh I'm I'm I'm
061looking forward to the opportunity to finally kind of provide this to the high school staff. I believe we're the only building that doesn't have it during the contractual time. I think >> maybe I think um our staff does do [clears throat] it without any question after school, before school, during their common prep period. Um but they will say more formal, more structured uh for them. So again, another another kind of um high aiming goal, but one that's very very important. The social emotional wellness goals uh really come from the teachers voice. Mary Beth had pulled the teachers last year about their preferences for professional development. What do they need to to develop themselves? And I think one of the common responses was they need some support supporting students or particularly with the social emotional learning
062challenges, executive functioning challenges. So a healthy population of high school staff and I think other buildings as well are committed to working with Alexis Reid. She is an educational consultant that the district has has contracted with uh specializing in social emotional learning and coaching and executive functioning. Uh so uh a healthy number of our staff is going to get some support there. That of course the goal then would be for them to bring it right back into their classroom. Our technology goal it's singular goal but if you look at the number of votes there it's a it's a it's a huge goal. Uh I work directly with Mike Tinker on this. Um and those are the f the five kind of areas that he's looking to improve upon technology across the district. Um device and
063life cycle management infrastructure and connectivity data security and policy policy and governments and you guys will certainly be involved in that as we develop policies around cell phones AI um and then of course increased staffing and support. So um Mike has shared with me that many of those goals have already been completed. The devices and life cycle management goal for instance is already done. Um but yet the infrastructure and connectivity part at the high school specifically transitioning our Wi-Fi access from from an on-site server to the cloud. The other district other schools have done that. Ours will happen um next month. That's going to happen. So really excited about all those things. Um I I think the honestly the the most basic fundamental goal there was to provide charging stations for student devices in the
064classroom. Just never thought of it. But he has provided in each classroom with five or six Chromebook charges so kids can no longer say my my Chromebook die can kind of go on the side of the room in a corner with an outlet. Uh and the teachers just say is minimize the interruptions to learning significantly. something as simple as just taking extra Chromebook charges that we've had over the years and preach room. So >> that's smart. >> Um, so Mike's making a lot of progress with that technology goal. >> The communication goals are also simple. I think Donna's point is a good one. I I feel as though we communicate a lot. Uh, but sometimes is is it too much and hard for parents to kind of sift through all of that. Um, one of
065the things I've heard from parents over the years is I wish that there was a way for them to view our daily announcements. So, we send home weekly email blasts that has kind of the more overarching happenings in our school, but the day-to-day mundane things. This club's meeting on that day or a deadline for this is on this day. The stuff we put on our daily announcements, they don't see that. I don't include that email blast. So, we now have done that. They're now our daily announcements are now linked. It's a video we play every day. It's not like in text. It's a video that's recorded by Penrook High School students and our teachers show it in their classrooms. So that video is now on the homepage of P school for any parent or any
066student for that matter to click on at any time. Students absent or if a teacher was given a test that period and couldn't show the announcements, the student can get it anywhere and so can the parent. So they now have a better understanding of what's happening on the day-to-day level. I also feel as though the second communication goal is really important. Um we had had for a number of years a faculty council that met monthly. There was a representative of that council from each department uh who would meet monthly to talk about just building based issues with each other. Not things that are like contractual, right? Not the contract where you know you violated my rights or things of that nature. It's just the day-to-day stuff like the paper towels keep running out. How do
067we have a system to get those that replaced quicker? Things of that nature that went away at the high school anyways. I think after co we stopped doing it. Not quite sure why. Um, and then I think last year I found myself meeting with the building reps, the association reps for everything, right? For far too many things that really didn't necessarily need the union to get resolved. So I asked the stat the faculty my own personal communication goal was to bring that back. Um, and so we've had two meetings so far because of the first um the we didn't get it convened until November. So they met in November and then we just met today uh as a group today. So uh some good things are happening there. Just to give you an example, the
068topic of discussion today was these online deadlines that we have now because you can submit work through Google, right? When I was teaching, if a paper was due on December 2nd, the kid passed it in when the period met, right? That's when that now we have the ability to collect that work electronically. and is the midnight deadline is there an advantage there that I'm not seeing that over overwways the perception it's creating right that was my message to the staff right why does something we do at 8:00 on a Sunday night versus when they walk in the door on Monday morning right so we had a a good discussion there with those teachers about that uh they made some very good points some of them I think are pretty pretty um profound Um, I think
069that we've agreed that maybe the the the weekend the weekend stuff, the Saturday night at 10:00 stuff, maybe not so much, right? We've not I've not given a directive. I've not required anything out of them yet because they then take that back to their departments and talk to their teachers there and that's how that that news kind of filters throughout the staff and then we'll come back next month and kind of talk about that. All right. But uh for the parents that are listening, I am hearing your concerns about a deadline at 10:00 on a Saturday night. >> All right. I will say though that it's not it's an assignment that's five weeks old and they say to you it's due 5 weeks from now at 10:00 on a Saturday night. You don't have to
070do a 10 o'clock on a Saturday night, >> right? >> And I understand all that. But is the perception parents have right outweighing the value of 10 o'clock done on a Saturday? You understand what I'm saying? So that's what we're trying to figure out. That's kind of the purpose of that of that council. Mhm. >> So, under the communication goal, we're bringing that back. And then, uh, finally, the facilities. I think like other schools have mentioned, we too have roof challenges. Um, but thanks to Erin and her support, uh, and the custodial staff, uh, we identified those leaks. We have repaired what we can repair. Um, you know, Dan Fenos custodian is doing a great job. He gets up on that roof. Um, he finds out where the roof drains are and is there something
071is the seal kind of eroded there? can I receal this on my own? And what he can fix he's fixing and what we can't we've we've hired. Um so that's been very helpful. The the custodial crew itself uh the night crew has opted to facility go number two utilize a team cleaning approach. Okay. There are three second shift customs to the high school. They each had a section they were responsible for. They worked in silos. This is my area. That's your area. That's your area. we don't see each other throughout the entire night. Um, and this year they're doing it in a team. They're moving to the building together in a group of three. Um, and what very important to me is it's a much more efficient use of their time. They're getting through the
072building much more quickly and then when they have time left because they are getting through it quickly, they go back to their old areas and get the things they don't get every single day, right? The tops of the door, the door uh frames, right? dust those or window sills, um cleaning desktops, stuff like that. So, they're saying they have much more time to do that. So, we're about 3 months into it. Um they're happy with it. I'm happy with it. Uh and we're going to keep going with that and see what happens throughout the course of the year. Uh and that's it. Those are the goals of the high school school improvement plan. >> Awesome. >> Comments? Anyone? >> Uh I I love that you've uh revived the faculty council. I think that will just,
073you know, get issues resolved faster. Um, and also love to hear about the small group that's working on um that first goal for um from NEASK. I think that is fantastic. Yeah. And I know it, like you said, it you know, it can be vulnerable to put your lesson plans out there, but to be able to workshop that in a group and find a way to make improvements will be awesome for the whole staff eventually. Yeah, I think that that whole premise, the applied learning tenants certainly work well with certain disciplines, right? So, the STEM field for instance, >> it's the humanities teachers perhaps that are a bit hesitant and as a former English teacher, I understand that entirely. And I'm happy to say that there's a reading specialist in that group. Um, and so
074she is um she's she's learning an awful lot about about these uh these tenants that she here before not really thought about incorporating classes. So >> I'm looking forward to her kind of maybe connecting with more humanities the teachers to kind of get them on board as well. >> Awesome. Yeah, that's a previous English teacher. Did you just say here too for >> I did. It's a wonderful word. It's a wonderful coordinating adverb. Yep. Yeah. [laughter] >> Just wondering when I'm going to use that. I was talking to a kid yesterday who submitted a dismissal note. Um, and it had a misplaced modifier on the note. Good. >> So, we had to talk about that in the morning about misplaced modifiers. [laughter] They could cause problems. So, anytime you want to talk about this stuff,
075>> I'm my next email to you. I'm going to try to use it and let's see if I use it right. >> So, he wanted to be dismissed for an appointment at 9:00, but he wrote, "I want to be dismissed." Yeah. For appointment 9:00. He had to leave at 9:00. The appointment's at 10:00. So he messed that up. You essentially at 9:00 was the modifier that was placed. >> As I said, >> I have to leave at 9:00. >> Wait for the appointment. If I let him pass, I know it's the point. [laughter] >> He's 624. Got it. >> I will ask a question mark though. In my entire career at 64 years of age, I've never had to diagram a sentence. And I probably spent years of my life with people drawing lines of
076where this line went, where that line went. I said, >> "There's still time, David. I said when I was a little kid I used to say when am I ever going to use that and at 64 I >> I would imagine you diagram sent [laughter] all the time I'm having flashbacks you probably don't even diagram sentences anymore knows um any other comments folks did go so I just had a couple of questions first of all um thank you all for everything that you talked about you're obviously doing a ton of work so appreciate all that um I was just wondering like you your two achievement goals are like you know you're doing a ton of work. I mean these teachers are you know this is is there are we is there anything that we need
077to support you with financially? Like is do you have everything you need to get all of these lofty goals? >> Well I JUST WANT TO KNOW like what we should be focusing on that question. So when it comes to presentation time and and common play time, I I may come back to you for the request. >> Well, I'm just saying like I mean it's a lot you're doing a lot. And then I was also wondering um how are you going to measure whether or not these are successful? >> That's a great question. So that's why it's a it's a nice two-year goal of time. Um when we present our findings to the faculty in the spring and try to get some more adopters in, that'll be one kind of a benchmark for me. So, Jonathan
078Shapiro, uh, who is our STEM coordinator and I will be certainly in those classrooms kind of watching and seeing what they're learning and what changes they're making to their own instruction and and lesson planning. Um, and then hopefully we'll have a larger group next year and we can continue that process with them, you know, and get in classrooms and support the teachers and ask them what you ask me, what can I give you? Uh, and then just want to know the results and watch closely. Mhm. Okay. >> There's a rubric that we created, Jonathan created. It's a single pronoun. We I did not create that. Jonathan Shapiro created it that blends our vision of our graduate with the applied learning tenants. >> Okay. >> It's a wonderful document. In fact, >> the first iteration of
079that was a bit more involved, a bit more complex. We met once as a group. We kind of simplified it a little bit. >> Uh and so we'll use that that rubric as we're observing classes to see >> um you know if we're if we're meeting all these of these standards. Yeah. Oh, okay. Great. Thanks, >> Katrina. >> Joe, I want to put you on the spot. Any questions? This is a chance to question all the uh people that you had to smile at for the last 11 or 12 years. >> I mean, no, it all sounds great to me. I I like the improvements you're making, especially with the communications cuz I feel like it's important. You can't always trust, especially the underassman with the morning announcement stuff like it's due by this day,
080get it done. even though it plays every day and in the cafeteria like it's important to send it in to the parents and I also liked the no Saturday 10 p.m. I haven't [laughter] had a lot of experience with that but it definitely is helpful like be able to hand something in. I know Miss Ruka my English teacher she we have to turn things in like before the bell rings for her class so we can work on in study titan time that morning so we don't have to submit it at 11:59. So >> Mhm. >> Yeah. Yeah, in the good old days when you were passing stuff in, if I had study hall first period, I could and it had something to do due second period, I could kind of, you know, work on that.
081>> But I do see the point. One teacher said to me today, I don't mean to believe this point, but she said, I make the the assignments do at 7:30 in the morning. >> Right now, they can submit it at 8. It doesn't really matter how don't your homework, but she likes to see it. So, she can then use that as a tool to adjust her lesson that day. She wants to know before they come in the class, >> the students have this material mastered so that I can go on to the next step in the lesson or do I have to pause and kind of retach? >> So that's why she does that. There's value to that. That's why I talk about the value. Is the value overriding the the perception it's creating in
082the community? >> And in that case, I think it does. And then I'm happy to explain to parents. It's a it's a deadline that's multiple days in advance. Not, you know, it's not what you're thinking. That kind of thing. >> Yeah. And I feel like that could depend on the class, too, because for AP and honors classes, I feel like maybe that could be expected, like you're going to get your work done, so you might not need to check, but for some of the CP classes, like being able to have that checkpoint would be important. >> Sure. >> Yeah, >> that's a good point, too. And I'm just going to throw my two cents in that whole issue because I've gone through four kids going through these deadlines at midnight or 11:59. Um, when you
083have kids that are in AP and honors courses and they're doing a sport or some sort of a, you know, after school activity, often they'll want like I know my son used to stay up until like midnight to do like he'd come home from the sport, come, you know, like do his thing. Sometimes he'd have to work a little and then he'd have to stay up till midnight when if he had a, you know, a study hall in the morning or even just like sleeping in and then getting up with a fresh brain, getting up early and just doing in the morning would work better for him. >> I'm just throwing that food for thought. >> Yeah. I feel like there's >> something to be said for having it be done due like at 7:00
084a.m. the morning of. I feel like midnight is a silly thing, right? The teacher is looking at midnight to see who handed it in or didn't hand it in. I mean, maybe there is somebody teacher. Sometimes Google will set that 11. >> It's an automatic, right? Yep. It does. >> And again, I'm not talking about a daily homework assignment where something is assigned on a Wednesday and this is due at 8:00 tonight. That's not I'm talking about these longer term projects where the what the teach say is, well, I'm just I'm >> instead of making it due at 2:20 that day, I'm giving them an extra 10 hours. They've already had two weeks. So now it's due at midnight tonight. Go home tonight. I could take it right now at 2:20 or I'll give you
085tonight too one more time but at midnight that's the Google default. So say look at midnight it's going to default anyways. So that's what they're doing >> and I get that but I think because then you get like an email at 12:01 that says due tomorrow and it's like is it due today or is it tomorrow? What is right what is point the perception is creating is it >> is there is the benefit outweighing that right? So that's a question for them to answer, but I want to hear the answer to something, >> right? >> But I get that feedback, Joe. Totally your point, too. As a parent, I hear that. >> Um, one thought I had was I know sometimes there can be an assignment that was assigned, maybe you started it in class
086and then it got put on Google Classroom, so you parents can't always see like when it was originally assigned. So potentially putting like the date it was assigned assigned on 1110 as a way for them to see like they've had three weeks to do this and if it's due at this time. Um just a thought >> or sometimes it was due that it's a class assignment due that day and they didn't finish for whatever reason. And our teachers because they're so flexible and so kind, they say, "Okay, >> yeah, >> it's due it was due now but I'll give you tonight but I want it by lit up at 10:00." That happens a lot too. I was thinking of it as like it's due tomorrow. [snorts] >> So, that's a really good call. >> Maybe
087indicating that it's in class work. You know, it could be like writing it for the parents to see cuz they >> won't know. It's all the perception. >> Yeah, for sure. Um, one thought I had, um, just jumping off what you mentioned about the the, um, announcements was when we were talking about kind of communication overall. I was wondering, I think I was thinking about the morning announcements that you had like I wonder if doing a video where where you give some of the um, things that you might say in the newsletter like if that if you know parents can kind of just like put it on as a way because like I listen to podcasts all the time, right? Or I'm driving in the car and whatever. So, you could even have a student
088read it, like a, you know, a sixth grade student or what have you. Um, but just an idea as a way to present it in a different way. I don't know, just borrowing your idea, [laughter] >> you can do that in >> Yeah, Brianville podcast. Just kidding. >> Anyone else? We're good. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Subcommittee updates. Budget sub. So budget sub met last week to go over maintenance of effort and we talked about setting up a joint meeting um with the select board in the next week or so is what we had talked about. Um so that will be forthcoming and then we'll try to meet more regularly now that we are officially in the budget process. >> Okay. policy sub. >> In your packet, you have for second read approval. Those two um
089explanation of the obvious policies and procedures that we talked about the last time about annual program evaluation. Um there's nothing has changed. There's no samples out there just yet. We had our site visit on Monday. >> Yesterday. So, >> all right. So, I need to take votes on both. Correct. >> Yep. >> Okay. Hey, I will take a motion for policy ACB, equal access and annual evaluation of K12 programming. >> So moved. Second. >> All right, I got a motion. I got a second. All those in favor? >> I opposed abstain. Five nothing. Uh on B. Uh take a motion on policy AC. I'm sorry. Is that an R- R? >> Dash R. Thank you. Equal access and annual evaluation of K12 programming procedures. I get a motion. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay.
090I got a first. I got a second. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Abstain. 5-0. Thank you. Negotiations. >> Yep. As I mentioned earlier, negotiation subcommittee met on Friday, November 21st. Um, we are meeting again on Monday, December 8th. We are at the point where we are exchanging financial packages hopefully coming to some compromise and resolution. Um I hope to be bringing you something for ratification at your next December meeting. >> Questions, comments? Okay. And last but not least, strategic planning. >> Strategic [clears throat] plan is plugging along. Um our fourth of six meetings is next Wednesday, December 10th. Um at our last meeting we did um kind of look at the themes that came through in all of the focus groups, all of the surveys and started to put together really what the
091kind of big rocks or so they call them would look like for the strategic plan. We will refine that work next week as well as um vote one final time on our vision and mission um and then start really developing our core values and some action steps. So, um the plan is targeted to be to you all in January. Um and we are right on track for that. >> Did we at some point have um we're going to have like a midway um something? >> Yeah. So, after we have the work next Wednesday, there'll be a like a working document draft that we can share with with the committee. >> Cool. Sounds good. Will that also be shared with administrators or is it more? >> Yeah. So, it is so great to work in a
092committee of 27 people. Um >> I can imagine. [clears throat] >> I think last two weeks ago we spent almost an hour and a half like word smithing a sentence. Um uh and it is really great to have the input from different stakeholder groups, but not all of it finds itself in language that makes sense in day-to-day practice. So, I would anticipate that the draft would go through administration to kind of tweak it so it makes sense for what we what we do here day in and day out. Um, and then move it forward. >> Got it. Okay. Cool. >> Okay. Future meeting dates and topics. We're December 16th, January 13th, and January 20th. >> Correct. >> Everybody still good with those dates? >> Yeah. >> Mhm. >> Perfect. >> Um, >> okay. >> One
093thing for topics. Um, I know at some point we're talking about having our, you know, the student rep do a report out if we want to. I'm not sure how often we should do that or um, wanted to give Joe the opportunity to report out on things, but make sure he has time to prepare if there's anything he wants to talk about. >> Do you want to do that on 16th, Joe? >> Sure. What is it? >> December 16th. >> Basically, just talking about anything that you feel like you've been hearing. You can also like talk with um one of us or even Mr. Talbot um to think about what are issues that you're hearing or um what are things you've been seeing or hearing from other students that are great like just to get
094a sense of the student experience and any feedback you might have. >> Oh yeah. >> It's not anything like strict or >> did you meet you? >> Yes. >> You with the kids whatever is we going to you want to do can we get an update on you guys? I can have an update. Did you have any >> um Do you want to update that meeting? I said one of the young ladies came and couldn't stay that long. She had to be somewhere. >> Yeah. >> Um there was actually three of us, four accounting myself. Um I think we discussed a little bit of what the contract um negotiation stuff that meant. We discussed I remember the um social vote tech. Um we discussed a little bit respect for the political climate of the town.
095>> Um help me out Joe after that. I'm trying to remember. Yeah, that was about it. We talked a lot about the contract and like how that's going and we compared that to Whitman Hansen, too. >> Oh, yeah. >> Oh, that was the other top going on there. >> Yeah, one of the questions was basically how does something like that happened and of course you don't want to open a can of worms there, but um >> Oh, interesting. They don't have >> I I try to handle that as gingerely, I think, as I could. [laughter] >> Right. Awesome. >> To that end, we have had some great luck in our pools with Whitman, hands, and educators that were displaced as part of those layoffs. So having that budget freeze lifted and having those posting and
096pools open, we've been able to successfully grab some really great candidates. So >> Oh, that's great. Yep. >> Awesome. >> Fantastic. >> Okay, so we're going to go to executive session. >> Um first and foremost, thank you everyone, but we are going to enter executive session pursuant to chapter 30A section 21A 3 to discuss strategy related to collective bargainies. An open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the legal position of the school committee as declared by the chair. Uh, could I get a motion? >> Second. >> And a second. And by roll call. Katrina D. >> Yes. >> Allison. >> Yes. >> Sue. >> Yes. >> Katrina S. >> Yes. >> And me? Yes. Five nothing. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Thank you for the presentations. Great
097job.