001we'll call our budget and finance subcommittee to order um Mr melany we have two items in the agenda number one is the staff and Reconciliation like the report um we do this every year um to see what changes made over the Bud bed on staff needs open school sh this year not very many changes at all the Staffing uh necessary um academic classroom uh professional staff we had no changes in any of the line items um Academic Program professional staff uh special education teachers we budgeted 11.8 is 110. n so there's um a reduction of a 0.9 special ed teacher and under academic academic profession support uh we had budgeted for 45 guidance positions uh there were 46 guidance position so that's an increase of point of 1.0 uh and overall the uh professional staff
002uh increased uh 0.1% uh 0.1 positions FTE uh from the budgeted to the actual I I think a big part of that was the fact that so we had so many positions put into the budget this year uh we're able to address all those concerns uh for the staffing at uh all levels so I don't know if anybody has any question on the Staffing anybody I'm good okay okay uh moving on to the um uh budget report the quality budget report uh for fiscal year 2024 we had a budget of 134,135 644 uh that's an increase of $8.2 million over the previous year's budget the mayor's appropriation uh was 127 m539 644 a 5.54% increase over the prior year uh projected circuit breaker funding increased $1.5 million uh so this allowed us to meet all
003our contractual obligations and provided $2.5 million for Budget Building which you hit all of the areas of our budget academic classroom teachers academic programs academic support non-academic support academic expenses and uh non-academic expenses uh as of September 30th there were two payments uh made uh for the teaching the professional staff out of a typical 26 uh so that should result in approximately 7.7% of the budget being spent and and 92.3 remaining for the year as you can see we have 92.8 n% remaining uh in that line uh so we should have enough money uh to get through the year and well as take care of any uh increase in levels that will occur in February uh when um there are some changes typically then for academic programs it follows the same line uh we we're
004hoping to have about 92.3% available we have 92.5% um and also I just like to point out we also increase the longevity totals um we had typically been using those uh midyear breakage to fund that that's to pay for uh the uh retirement uh when teachers retire and have the buyback of the uh 30 uh sick days so we fully funded that so we should be in very good shape as far as that goes moving forward academic support the instructional uh line is again greater than the 92.3% would like we have 93.1% um remaining uh for 52- we employees uh there were 12 pay periods this quarter uh so we should have um approximately 77% available for all 52e employees uh uh you can see we're right around that for clerical the superintendent the directors
005department heads um it's slightly lower uh that was due to the contractual raises and we did put a reserve as you can see the bottom of the line at um academic support we did put a reserve in for uh funding those raises um so we should be fine there uh the principles have uh 91.5 n% um that's sufficient to get through the year there's a combination of the 26 pay periods as well as the two high schools have uh 52- we uh employees so that's why it's a little bit lower than the 92.3 um AIDS uh we increased that line a great deal last year in negotiations um and we have the funding available to pay for all those raises which was pretty significant so for academic support we're in very good shape uh non-academic
006support uh the clerical line uh is uh greater than the 77% uh because it's typically 40 these are the uh secretaries are out in the schools so they are not 52e employees so that'll be sufficient to cover them custodial and maintenance uh we're right around the number that we need and security would be about 92.3% so we're right in line with all the um salary budget items um I don't see any problem as far as any of these expenses go to get through the year I don't if anybody has any questions on this um salary budget before we get to the expenses keep going CH fair enough uh for the expenses uh as you know it's just the start of the year so we we uh don't have all our our EXP expenditures done um
007the uh we're right in line where we typically are one concern that we are going to have this year is the tuition line it hasn't raised that line for uh three years um and we have a significant amount of uh AED District placements uh we'll watch it closely and as you know if we uh get in any trouble with it we do have a few uh students who will be aging out and they're very high dollar value so there should be some savings coming in later on in the year uh uh and all our other line expenses are in uh very good shape for right now for non-academic expenses uh natural gas and electricity look like there's a significant amount expended but that's uh also that includes items that were um purchase orders were put
008forward but not paid down yet so uh I checked uh today and on um between National Grid gas National Grid electric and Tesla electric uh we have uh close to 600 ,000 that hasn't been expended by 930 so it shows up here as an expense but it it's it's incumbent but hasn't been uh spent so uh we're in very good shape with all of those transportation's uh a little high and that goes in hand with the audit District placements as well as um some special Leed routs in city that we've had to vend out and uh we should have sufficient funds to cover all the transportation costs and right now it looks like we're in very good shape with the the budget as a whole I don't know if anybody has any questions anybody okay
009thank you Jim Mrs leeo about the um the spreadsheet so um I was concerned because we had hired so many teachers I was wondering why we needed so many teachers and this is incredible information but out of our 85.8 professional staff 2.8% of those people resigned so I just want to talk about how significant that number is that we're holding on to 90 more than 97% of our staff um for you I mean there were people who retired and things like that but we're talking about resignations so I think we're doing a pretty good job so I just want to thank everybody for their work on that thanks Jim thank you Mrs leel thank you Jim like to call to order school committee regular meeting of Wednesday October 25th would you please stand for the
010pledge IAT to the FL of the United States of America and to the rep for stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all please remain standing keeping your prayers the well-being and safety of our students and staff and also those in arm's way around the world thank you superintendent please call the RO Mr Leo Mr Santoro pres and Meo pres Mrs Owens would you do me a favor and read the recording message pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any me medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible thank you I'm looking for a motion to
011approve the regular meeting minutes on a motion Mr Libo seconded by Mrs hu all those in favor I oppos the eyes have it one more time Mrs Owens open forum is an opportunity for Community input regarding the quinsey public schools community in this context is defined as a resident of the city of quiny a parent of a student who attends the quinsey public schools or an employee of the quiny public schools non-community persons not permitted to speak at open for Forum May submit written statements to the school committee after giving his or her name and address each speaker may make a presentation of no more than four minutes to the school committee an individual may not exchange their time or yield to others interested parties may also submit written statements to QSC open Forum at
012quiny publicschools.com thank you very much do we have anybody for open Forum please come to the mic second call seeing none superintendent's report superintendent thank you and good evening everyone hope everyone is doing well um before I begin the um item uh a I would like to talk about uh what happened today at quinsey high school with regard to the bomb threats that we received uh and I just want to review with the committee and the community uh what happened and how it was handled uh on today Wednesday October 25th at a approximately 12:31 p.m. we received a bomb threat to the uh to the school um and then shortly thereafter at 12:34 p.m. we received another um bomb threat to the school staff immediately contacted my office the quiny police were immediately contacted and
013consulted based on consultations with the Quincy police we did a coordinated um evacuation of quiny high school with the under the guidance and so vision of the Quincy Police Department um it was also then uh determined that um before that occurred we sent out a school um messenger alert to all of the parents to inform the community the first at Quincy High School was being evacuated and second that the school was being dismissed and all after school activities were being cancelled at that point we did not know how long the uh search with the um dogs uh in the quiny police police would take uh So based on advice from the quinsey police we determined the best course of action was to give parents enough notice that all after school activities would be cancelled uh
014the Quincy police then did uh conduct their search of the entire building with their K9 units they did a systematic search throughout the entire building fortunately no bombs were found and the building was cleared by the quinsey police uh a letter has been sent home to the community at the quinsey high school School Community alerting them to all of this information um I do want to in particular thank the Quincy Police Department for the very Swift and thorough response obviously the staff and students did an amazing job with regard to following all the evacuation procedures relative to this event and of course I want to thank all of the members of the SLT uh together we made a what was and could have been a very stressful situation um very calm and orderly and very
015proud of of everyone's response uh and again thank you to uh the chief and um his team for assisting us with this we're hoping that this won't happen again um and we have a meeting um with the Quincy police uh on Friday to discuss um additional um steps we can take to try and minimize uh these types of disruptions within the school community I should note that the Quincy police are investigating the source of the calls and as of right now um we don't have a definitive answer as to who made the calls but um if and when that person is identified obviously um criminal prosecution will occur for sure as well as if it is a student uh student disciplinary processes will be taking place is obviously an extremely serious situation and um it
016really is a no tolerance policy that we have to take in these instances and so will the Quincy police so um with that I'll open uh to any questions that you may have about what transpired today who was the phone call made to which office the phone call was made to our uh attendance office both calls uh to the attendance office there are two extensions in the attendance office made to the two separate extensions in the attendance office and do we have the capacity to record those when they come in uh they I don't know that we have the capacity to record all of those calls um but that's something we are we can look into um we have the potential capacity to trace those calls depending on um what type of device was used
017to make the calls and that's what the Quincy police are working on now and I'm hoping we can find where is the attendance office phone number posted anywhere where is it posted it would probably posted on on the website odd that that would be the unless un it was pre unless it was known um but it's certainly on our website thank you I'm good else thank you sir thank you and I'll keep you updated as more information comes in uh next on the agenda is the November 7th professional development uh for the upcoming November 7th professional development day for QPS Educators over 80 different small group sessions are available for 950 professional staff members to choose from with topics ranging from literacy stem English learner and special education supports to integrating music and movement educator
018wellness and restorative practices just to name a few uh we are looking forward to the special day for the Quincy public schools professional staff members and have provided a copy of the schedule at your places obviously we appreciate all the support of the mayor in the school committee and all the SLT and our principles and of course our staff for making this uh day possible for us and we're um we're looking for forward to this very productive productive day with regard to these professional development opportunities again for over 950 of our Educators so that's a great thing next is the QPS assessment calendar 2023 2024 is shared with you at your spaces in your packet this is the schedule for the map and amplify mclass early literacy Universal and dyslexia screenings given three times per
019year followed by integrated learning team meetings for grades K through 8 preliminary dates for access that is for English learner students and mcast assessments are also provided and will be updated as they are finalized the QPS educator minig grants uh 92 quiny Public Schools professional Educators recently received minig grants up to $350 each for a total of $32,400 the minig grants will provide support for the academic emotional and Social Development of students the annual QPS many grants are made possible thanks to the generosity of our Quincy School Community part ship members including Maya Coke and to date we have $585,000 that has been distributed uh to our Educators the list of all the recipients is provided at your uh locations and again I just want to congratulate all of our Educators uh who uh won
020the minig grants this year and best of luck in their projects next is the Quincy public schools and city of quinsey events thanks to Mayor Koke and his staff the dedication and open house for the Dr RoR Christopher Learning Center was held this past Sunday the ceremony was enjoyed by the extended to christofaro family including president to christafaro's Mother thanks to the members of the state and federal delegations city council school committee and norfor County Commissioners who are so supportive in the funding of this wonderful addition to the Quincy public schools facilities so thank you all for that event to begin the transition process to The Learning Center a zoom meeting with Dela Early Childhood Center families was held on Monday evening thank you all of of you who attended approximately 40 parents attended and
021heard an overview of the new school committee building and preliminary transition plans the meeting was also recorded and will be posted on the Quincy public schools website for anyone interested in in seeing that um presentation uh the Dela families who have signed up for scheduled tours of the new Learning Center building will be contacted by the end of this week to select a date and time tours will be scheduled in November December and again an early 2024 so we're looking forward very much to exposing exposing those um this building to those families uh upcoming events include the Micah Statewide matching band competition at Veterans Memorial stadium this coming Sunday October 29th beginning at 11:00 a. that's a great event and it will be a very very well attended event based on last year's numbers and
022I would encourage anyone interested in marching bands to attend again uh the um the bands are phenomenal so uh the third annual special education parent advisory Council trun Retreat will be held on Sunday October 29th from 2: p.m. to 4 p.m. in the wallon school parking lot pre-register for this event on the CPAC website uh which is quiny pac. qu ncy sepac c.com uh quizy high school student council postponed the haunted hallways Community event for younger students that were was supposed to happen tonight but we're hoping to reschedule that so please watch the quiny public schools website and social media for an updated information on that on that event the North quiny and quiny high school student support services are hosting the annual financial aid night for juniors and seniors and their families on Thursday
023November 2nd from 6:00 pm to 7:30 p.m. in the quiny High School auditorium and on Wednesday November 8th clinical psychologist and creator of open parachute Dr Haley Watson will host a parent Academy on building student resiliency the event will be held in the Central Middle School auditorium at 6 PM uh with that that ends my superintendent's report thank you super and good evening everyone um I before I hand the presentation over uh I do want to make some introductions um with regard to everyone that's here tonight to present um information on the new squantum elementary school so obviously our presenters tonight Brian L Ro from PCA 360 and Tina Ho from uh Arrow Street our architect um PCA 360 as you know is our uh project manager so thank you both for attending I do
024want to introduce our principal of us squantum Elementary School Steven Sylvia and our assistant principal Megan Haley is also with us here tonight so so with that thank you all for attending and I'll hand the presentation over to Mr lar Ro great thank you very much thank you for inviting us to be here tonight uh to present to you an update of uh the squantum elementary school project um this is our first presentation to the school committee and uh there'll be many more to come uh as we begin the process uh so I'll begin tonight with just giving you an overview of the Project's schedule uh as I loaded we're pretty early in the process so I will uh see if I can there we go it worked um so that'll be the next slide
025but um as superintendent melvie alluded to the team uh that we have for the early phase of the project is uh uh Arrow Street our architect uh PCA 360 uh the owner representative uh OPM uh and uh the mass School building authority along with the city of quinsey um and then as we get further along the project there'll certainly be more team members uh in the next uh you know 6 months will begin the process of finding a uh construction manager um but we're uh at the very beginning right now so I'll just uh give you a quick overview of the msba process uh it's a pretty uh lengthy uh process that we follow uh uh as the msba has a pretty stringent uh procedure that you move through uh in order to uh get
026uh the grant uh you know they are our partner in this project uh so we have already uh the module one which we finished already is uh uh is basically getting the funding agreement with the uh Mass School building authority and then uh module two uh which is forming the team uh which is uh the two of us here now uh and now we're into module three which is uh the feasibility study so the feasibility study is uh broken into two phases uh the PDP the preliminary design program which we just completed uh a few weeks ago uh and formally submitted that to the msba uh and we're waiting uh their comments uh we've already moved on to the next uh part of the feasibility phase which is called uh the PSR or the preferred
027schematic report uh so tomorrow uh we're going to be meeting with the school building authority uh School building committee rather and uh we'll be giving them uh the first look at some design options uh so Ara Street has prepared uh 10 options that we'll be presenting to the building committee for the first time uh but tonight uh we'd like to show you some of the work product that we've done uh to date uh to prepare for uh the and lay the groundwork for the design of the new school a lot of it is uh pretty uh you know basic and that we're looking at the existing building we're we have a site survey done and so forth Tina will get into some of the details of that but that really sets the uh the groundwork
028for uh for a lot of work that's to come um so you know another view of the project schedule to show you where we're at the red line is showing you where we are in the point in time uh and we are uh you know just beginning uh the preferred schematic report which uh there'll be quite a few meetings with the building committee um by the end of December is when we reach our next major Milestone where we'll submit that uh uh work product to the msba uh so with that I'll turn it over to Tina to show you a little bit about what uh they've been up to thank you Brian you want to just use y I can advance the slide thank you um thank you for having Arrow Street as part of
029this meeting tonight um we're oh y is that better good good good thank you um yeah and so what you what you see in front of you um as as you are probably all very um aware of is the squantum school as it is currently um from a bird's eye view you could see that the public park is just behind it um and the school is on really three sides of the street um Huckins um Mayflower as well as Standish the the building um of the school actually consists of um the 1919 building which was the original School building um and then uh in 1949 the dark blue that flanked the 1919 building was added on and and lastly um the 1971 building was added on is the enrollment in the school um and the
030families in the district started to grow and so this is what you have currently is a string of these buildings um that sit on the site um just to talk a little bit about the existing building um as Brian had mentioned we're doing a lot of due diligence um just to understand the conditions of the existing building um understanding how it's laid out um how it's utilized uh but a lot of leg work um that's being done to lay the foundation for the design process um but what you see here is um some old photos of the existing 1919 building um the map of the location and how really the the squantum peninsula has grown um but also a view of the gym that is um anchored at the corner uh next to the 199
031building just some interior views of the existing building just to give you a sense of the type of space that's in there um uh there is a a gym gym a cafetorium really um because it's a combination of where they have their PE um but they also have their lunch there um and as well as you can see that there's a stage so really there's uh many purposes to this went space um it's it is well used and well- loved um what you'll also see uh to the um right of that is their um open space Media Center or Library um again it's a great space has a lot of great light um and it's surrounded by classrooms um the classroom that you see on the lower uh right side it it is a good
032siiz classroom but there's um the finishes are are dated are older um there's lighting that needs to be updated um things like that such as um base repair is just um basic things but it has served the school very well it still serves the school um in a sense that it's a great space um and you'll see just some other examples of um photos in in the other classrooms um accessibility um throughout the school around the school and the exterior on the grounds but also within there are challenges as you can see there are um because of the grade change um there are level changes within the school although it is a one-story School uh so you'll see that um a lift was retrofitted it so that it can navigate the steps on the interior
033but just the same on the exterior there are um sloped walkways and stairs um that would be able to allow you to get up to the gym um that view of the hallway that's actually a sloped floor right there so those are things um that we would like to address um in the new design and just some conditions of the of the building envelope is um these are uh there's a close-up view of the existing br um that it's a durable material but over U many decades it starts to deteriorate um as you can start to see here um and you can start to see some of the windows as well and the roofing that there are um issues that um come up from time to time and it's part of the the maintenance of
034of the building of an old building um building system so for instance electrical you can see um as well as their existing boiler um those are uh systems that um are also well used but beyond um their service of life so these are things that we look at carefully as we try to understand whether um a building renovation um or a combination of renovation addition makes sense um for for the school and so as I mentioned the site um it is um a good siiz site but there is a topography change there are some ni features that are already there um as you can see there's um a large black top area where students um have access for recess um one of their um well-loved spaces is their Outdoor Classroom um which we've heard and
035would uh like to replicate or or even um add to um as part of the new design um but what's also um very beneficial to the school is the large Park in um behind the school as well that um gets utilized um so far we've we've had some very good meetings with the school um with the district um these are some photos from our ADV visioning um meetings as well as School tours and part of the ADV visioning is to really understand what are some of the goals for the school specifically for squantum that is and trying to understand what are their needs um and speaking with the teachers and uh with the staff were able to um get that information and understand what works best for the students um at squantum um but also
036look we were able to tour a couple schools um just to get ideas of what other districts are doing and how some of their goals of um how they they've imp implemented their learning spaces might um align or work with the squantum school um and so during during the ADV visioning we come up with the programming and the programming this is really just a diagram to show the the multitude of spaces that the squantum school would need um to serve the students and the staff so you can see um that there are in the blue there's a number of classrooms that we need to meet the student enrollment and the purple of the support spaces for special education but also for general education uh but uh this is where we're also trying to show there
037would be a separate gym and a separate cafeteria um versus the combined that they have currently I would just point out the gross area of the existing building versus with the programmatic areas now y thank you Brian yes and I um in the very top corner there the existing building is approximately 45,000 Square ft um the proposed building is close to 80,000 Square ft so you can very easily see that the current um building is is very much undersized for what their needs are um and based on very much um different discussions as well as what msba guidelines required today for um a modern School uh this is how we arve to the 80 almost 880,000 square foot um school um in terms of next steps Brian talk a little bit about this um so
038I I don't want to um uh I don't need to go through it too much but we had completed the preliminary design um program report um we're in the middle of the um preferred schematic report so we're we're doing a lot of studies a lot of various iterations exploring ideas um that we've U Been meeting with the working group having um good discussions and feedback um and soon um we have will'll come to a preferred scheme by the time we submit the preferred um schematic report uh and so still a lot of work to be done still very early phases of the design uh it will continue um as we move into schematic design and still a lot of exploring um to do and that concludes the presentation I'd like to open up to questions
039questions or comments May C thank you Mr chairman um just a couple of um notations one is as we know we held a community meeting um last month out in squantum really to get input as what's going on today and that usually relates to drop off and pickup and traffic and etc etc U so we'll continue to keep the neighborhood in the loop and and The Architects had a great idea they ask people to submit their family favorite memories of the school um was something else what was the other thing was and what are their uh dreams and hopes for the school okay okay so uh all of that input will be incorporated in the process which is great um the other piece is if you can go back to the image where it shows
040the bird's eye view of the site here we go so we see public park that's Parkland so the goal is to get the school built on existing School land if we can there may be some trade-off article 97 would be tripped which protects Parkland so we may have to do a swap if we get into that uh it's early to be talking about that because really design layout will dictate some of that but I I know this will also become a public works project in that uh for the circulation purposes there may be a widening of hutkins there may be a widen of Mayflower and sish to help uh help the flow uh both in the morning and afternoon so just a couple of observations that we talked about with the The Neighbors uh at
041the community meeting so thank you very much question Mr um couple years ago when this uh started being talked about uh someone asked me about the facade uh front facade and whether that can be incorporated into the uh new building uh specifically the uh the Indian at the top yeah um is there any discussion on that and are you are you yeah we've had a considerable amount of discussion about the facade uh quite a few of the options that we're looking at uh has that being preserved in the design so out of the 10 options uh the msba requires that one of them uh we look at the existing building can we just renovate the building and and improve it that's one uh a few others are a whole new building all new uh and
042most of the schemes after that uh probably six M are preserving the 1919 so those different schemes are going to be presented to the building committee tomorrow for their first look um and um for in consideration so after tomorrow we'll we'll probably narrow it down to three and then continue to pursue those so that is definitely a part of it thank you sure yeah I just so exciting it really is so exciting for the community and for our city to see this happening I mean it's a well-loved little spot it has significant problems I mean we've all been in there and it has significant problems so this is just great for the community and and for the and for the children certainly and the staff that's been working there for years so I'm thrilled about
043this I just want to add my comment as being part of the committee I want to thank you for the work and the amount of time that you've spent on this project people don't really understand how many meetings how many hours and how much discussion so I thank you both thank you thank you thank you okay yep Item B literacy program we have Miss Bon to present I Believe Miss Perkins is joining her hi everyone my name is Bridget vaugh I'm the literacy and Ela coordinator for the district and tonight I'll be presenting to you the 2023 24 literacy program Improvement plan for the quinsey public schools uh literacy is dived defined simply as the ability to read and write but we all know that high literacy rates represent a potential for further intellectual growth
044and contribution to the economic sociocultural development of society uh literacy is the foundation of community and economic development the ability to read accurately and fluently requires an incredible amount of cognitive fle flexibility and inference when children in the primary grade have systematic and direct instruction in the foundational skills of reading and access to our language through read alouds with Rich complex text that builds their background knowledge they begin to understand vocabulary in context the syntactic semantic morphological and pragmatic a aspects of language development all become enriched as they begin to use a variety of seman semantic and syntactic forms in their own own language they are also better able to understand um and interact with the world around them it's how they'll communicate with others via reading and writing but also by speaking listening and
045creating it is for this reason that the literacy program in the quiny public schools is so essential I'm thankful and honored to be here tonight to share this year's literacy program Improvement plan with all of you we've made tremendous strides over the past year and we hope to continue this growth in order to maximize student learning throughout this school year the plan starts off with our mission which directly aligns with our English language arts vision for students in the quinsey public schools to support that Vision last year we were able to procure new English language arts curriculum and materials for all students in grades K through five Amplified core knowledge language arts or cka this has been a truly exciting and rewarding Endeavor with the support of the superintendent leadership team I applied for and
046was awarded the federally funded gleam continuation grant for over $740,000 this spring I applied for year three and was awarded another $170,000 bringing the total for gleam funding in the quiny public schools to over $1.1 million in three years this would not be possible without the support from mayor KO you our school committee members and superintendent mvy and assistant superintendent Perkins this funding and your continued support allow the literacy team and all English language arts Educators to be able to bring the best that there is to the students in quinsey through our program design with three tiers of instruction representing the levels of support we can provide Universal core support strategic support and or intensive support depending on the IND IND individual needs of every student our literacy team works with all stakeholders within their
047buildings and communicates results of early literacy screening three times a year with all families through home connect letters in addition we decide what actions within the general education program will meet the students needs including differentiated or supplementary evidence-based reading instruction and we share this with families as well our goals are measured specific spefically in two areas with universal early literacy skills measured by the amplify M class with Dibbles 8 and comprehension skills measured by the NWA map Reading assessment you'll notice on pages uh 10 and 11 we were able to meet all of our goals for the 2022 23 school year our goal to decrease the number of students that need intensive support by 10% in kindergarten and grade 1 was met by decreasing this by 18% in both grade levels in grade two the
048goal was to decrease this need for intensive support by 5% and we were able to reduce this by 8% the bar graph on page 10 shows the performance level of well below Benchmark on the amplifi mclass with dibles 8 for fall and spring and you can see uh the significant drops in those levels indicated in Blue on page 11 our second goal reflection shows that we were able to meet our goal in improving reading comprehension in grades 2 and three with small group instruction and targeted reading intervention the bar graph from the nwaa map Reading assessment shows that we increased growth by 13.4 RIT points in grade two and 11.2 RIT points in grade three this exceeded our goal of an increase of 10 RIT points from Fall to Spring in both grade levels our
049excuse me our new goals for this year school year have been adjusted and are more rigorous based on last year's progress on page 13 you'll notice then in our first goal which measure measures the foundational reading skills we've increased our percentage numbers we aim to decrease the percentage of students in the well below Benchmark performance measure by 15% in kindergarten and grade 1 7% in grade two and we've added grade three this year and aim to decrease well below percentages in this grade level by 5% in our second goal which me measures growth and comprehension we've increased writ growth in Reading in grade two to 12 points from Fall to Spring and 10 points in grade three our action steps found on pages 14- 16 continue to include supporting staff with administration of Assessments facilitation
050of integrated learning team meetings and most importantly providing students with evidence-based reading intervention with input from all stakeholders I will be submitting bimonthly gleam reports to desie which outline progress towards goals and show how we intentionally Center literacy equity and cultural responsiveness across and among all schools through professional development QPS literacy team meetings and staff Network meetings State Network meeting excuse me professional development this year listed on pages 17 through 19 is extremely robust with the addition of several strengthening sessions for educators in amplify cka in topics like small group instruction writing supporting multilingual Learners and sessions for building leaders like enhancing observations in addition we're offering several other literacy trainings and workshops during our November 7th professional day of learning with everything from sessions in spelling and morphology to building sound walls and using
051diverse texts as Windows and mirrors we also have a cohort of 24 Educators this year completing either associate or classroom educator practicums in Orton Gillingham through our partnership with the Commonwealth learning learning center finally we'll also be providing family engagement and extended day opportunities through a number of before and after school groups and family literacy events that are listed in appendix B in addition to those listed in the appendix will also be having parent acmis on topics of early literacy screening and overviews of the new Core Curriculum on the literacy team we know that literacy instruction involves so much more than teaching children to read and right we want all students to have this solid foundation and literacy skills early on so that they are able to read write speak listen create and learn with
052confidence far beyond these formative Years thank you for your time and I welcome um your feedback and any questions questions or comments Mrs Lio thank you um yeah your goals were great and you did really an amazing job I am so glad to see that reduction in tier three um that is so impactful for our little our little kids it really is to see them get making that kind of progress early on so they're not going to have these problems later on so I think anything we can do along those lines is tremendous um it really is I I I think this is wonderful I think your goals are are challenging and I think that's great I also want to tell you that I love the ccla uh and the and the teachers seem to
053love it I I've talked to a few teachers who were using it last year and they loved it they loved the response they were getting from the kids um so it's pretty exciting to see so I I know it's always challenging to start a new curriculum like that um and I think just the way that you guys have rolled these things out and investigated options to make sure we were getting something that was evidence-based and um I'm just so proud of the team for finding this and for giving the teachers the support they need in implementing it and to see The Joy on the teachers faces when they were talking about it was was pretty cool so congratulations thank you anyone else this is you please I was just going to say thank you so
054much for the presentation this is wonderful this is really great stuff and I love the versatility and the um professional development that you have it's it's it's wonderful it's extensive thank you thanks I appreciate that thank you very much thank you motion by Mrs Lio second by Mrs hule we approve thank you all those in favor all right andos the eyes have it item C mathematics program Improvement plan we have Miss Quinn to present the floor is yours so before Miss Quinn starts I just want to say we're so excited to have her here today because this is our very first math Improvement plan so because of your support and may Co support we really have developed the math intervention team the math Specialists and as a so we decided that as this team grows
055and builds this team should match the literacy team and how we treat it and so that is why we decided to present to you tonight a math Improvement plan and we're excited for our first one and we're looking forward to really being able to work towards those goals so with that I'll turn it over to Kim Quinn thank you that was a wonderful introduction good evening everyone and it does give me great pleasure to be presenting this first ever math program Improvement plan for quiny prior to 2022 math Specialists were only in three of our Title One schools in September of 2022 the math team gained three additional members allowing us to put math Specialists into every elementary school so that students would be serviced this school year we added two more members to our
056team allowing to allowing us to serve Fifth and sixth grade at both Point Webster and Southwest Middle School on page five we have our program description the mathematics program was de developed to identify and support students who struggle to acquire foundational math skills students are selected by the integrated learning team based on test assessment results and overall math performance the focus of this intervention is to develop and support students working knowledge of foundational skills and Concepts in numeracy once identified the student the math Specialists look at the data and plan a course of action using research-based materials and activities a list of these resources and interventions can be found on page six the students may be serviced by the math specialist um by a math specialist pushing into a class or being pulled out during
057a student support block the math program achievement is based on student growth and outcomes goals are set and measured by using one or more systems of measure that could in that includes the U map the Georgia numeracy project diagnostic assessment and math Running Records looking on page eight although I do not have an official math program Improvement plan to look back on I would like to take some time to look back on last year and what the team accomplished last year the team focused on students in grades 2 and four and supported grades one and five when possible Specialists pushed into the um during tier one instruction and Center time while also pulling small groups during intervention blocks the team also supported the teachers in the implementation of our new Core math resource illustrative mathematics
058this time consisted of planning with teachers modeling lessons co- teing lessons and helping with the implementation of centers they also facilitated professional development sess sessions during the systemwide days our team goal last year was to evaluate various math screeners and select one to Pilot these screeners were rated on ease of use time taken to administer depth of data collected and the inclusion of intervention resources although all the screeners offered important data the Georgia numeracy project Diagnostic and interventions was chosen to be piloted this year um um in several of our first grade classrooms on page nine I reflected on the district goal which was a to um a total increase of three achievement percentage points in exceeding or meeting um achievement levels and as I mentioned in the district data presentation when comparing cohorts which
059compares the same students we met our goal in grades four six and eight on page 10 the achievement percentage report is used to compare the grade level to the same grade grade level from last year looking at it this way grade five and seven increase by over 5% and on page 11 you see the district map goal where we achieved our goal in each grade level so I'd like now to shift to our math team goals for the upcoming school year if you look at page 13 you will see the first goal which Mir mirrors our district map goal the math team will support the Improvement of students math fluency and number sense through small group instruction and support the classroom teaches as evidence by an increase in rip points and those change based on
060the grade level in addition to given targeted instruction to our math students the team will support teachers with the administration of the map and help um their schools facilitate ilt meetings where they analyze data and share findings on page 14 you'll see that the team has already participated in targeted site Bap professional development with I am consultant Marino Connell and worked with math consultant and a lease record on research-based strategies to support their students our second goal is to provide parents opportunities to acquire information Knowledge and Skills to support their um children's math journey through scheduled parent acmis and website resources we will host an elementary focused Parent Academy along with I am consultant Marino Connell this event will showcase illustrative mathematics and give the parents a taste of what is happening in the classroom
061and what their ma um students are um engaging in each day by giving the parents um actual math activities to participate in anaise record will host math doesn't math fluency just doesn't happen um for our K to5 parents anaise will talk about how important it is to build children's math fluency parents will have an opportunity to explore various math fluency games and leave with cards dice and copies of the games and with the assistance of Kelly Powers we will share math resources via the QPS website and if you look at page 15 you'll see our final goal which is to work along with the other math Educators in the um system to update our math pacing guides for grades three to five this is particularly important since mcast occurs a month prior or over a
062math over a month prior prior to the end of the school year making the timeline for instruction shorter than um ele Early Elementary grades and in the final pages of the Improvement plan you'll find the related um math professional development that we will offering this year many of which I've already highlighted there's also a chart that contains the names and schools where our math Specialists um work along with the dates um of our monthly meetings and finally the district action step and family and extended day opportunities that are being offered the math team is so proud of the work that we've accomplished this last year and we look forward to implementing our 2023 2024 math program Improvement plan over the next eight months and at this time I'd be happy to answer any questions that
063you might have questions comments Mrs hle thank you this is wonderful so great um I love your goals and I especially love your goal number two having um the parent goal in there um with the parent Academy am and that that's I one thing I hear from parents all the time is how they just want to help their kids with math and that they are struggling so having more parent academies is wonderful um one thing I'm a huge Greg Tang tan Fang Fin and I don't do you know if we have him scheduled I know he's very hard to schedule but right now he is always he is always um somebody that that we would love to see come back but right now we do not have him scheduled I would love see him on
064it because I think last time he was on he was so helpful to all the parents that were on that Zoom call that he then that was amazing and the kids that were on that call they were asking them questions too and he was helping them as well that was that was fabulous so thank you so much yeah thank you yeah absolutely this is Leo thank you very much for this it's great to have a math program Improvement plan in front of us um certainly the map goals I you know I love map way better than I like mcass unfortunately mcass fites us every once in a while so um I I'm interested to see how much uh this work we're putting into the map assessment is going to help us improve our mcast scores
065I believe it will because I really do not like looking at the mcast scores I'm with Miss huley I'm so pleased to see The Parent Academy I can remember when we put in that's must going to be going back a few years base 10 and nobody knew what it was no parents nobody who had graduated from high school two years before that could to help anybody with their homework ever again in math because nobody knew what it was and and we weren't as good at doing parenty then as we have become so I'm thrilled that you're going to be doing a parent Academy you're going to be helping them with that um I love the uh Illustrated math too I think it's um a terrific a terrific tool that we have at our disposal now
066and so I'm pleased to see that um and I'm wondering about the pacing guide so the pacing guide is it going to also address the fact that we're using new curriculum absolutely yes so just to line everything yes so you hoping to have that done by the end of the year even before that yes and you're working K through 12 we're working K to five because of that's where we've done the luster of mathematics yeah all right thank you very much I'm good Mr peroli consistently our math scores grades five and six have been um not not up to what they should be um are we targeting that particular group uh in order to affect some change to bring those scores up because every year we hear the same thing it's always fifth and sixth
067grade where we're low um in our math skills math program so absolutely and then and we're very happy that we have that ability with um Point Webster and Southwest to have the math interventionist there who will be targeting the fifth and sixth grade is there as there as well yeah so we are we are we are on it and we are um you know we have um things in place and fifth grade is definitely a Target this year for us in terms of the math interventionist team there that has shifted into um making sure that they get into the fifth grade classes as well and we heard our Ela scores um in that particular group um who had to use the um uh Zoom way of learning mhm um it was it was a disaster
068um do you have any statistics about our math um scores regarding yeah that particular group I think it's interesting because I mean I think in general kids struggled with the zoom I think that was pretty much like across curricular areas and across the board but what's interesting is when you look at the state scores and even our scores do mirror the state scores actually this is Math's time like for some reason math the students actually didn't um like like slink back as much as they did in ela so we didn't we didn't see that there's a drop but the drop was much more um significant I guess across the state the state and in Quincy uh in ela than it was in math so there's almost six points in in in El right yeah Ela
069and that's that's like we're not the only ones I mean that's literally the whole state and I think we talked about in third grade in particular is an area of concern you know I think when we last year when we first got our mcast scores back we were actually really happy with the mass scores considering what everyone had been through you know um and I think this year too we're also you know we're pretty happy we always have areas of concern like you said Mr bolie the middle school is always I think an area of concerns in in terms of math scores but I think that Kim's done a really great job she has Molly vogi coming back we haven't done that since before coid you know we're bringing back all of these things that
070did work and were helping before coid um you know to try to help help boost our Mass sces back up that's good to hear thank you I just wanted to add one more thing I'm so grateful that we were able to get in the budget those positions for the two middle schools to have the fifth and sixth grades because they really were not getting the attention that they needed um unfortunately but we have those people in there and now they're getting even more attention than our than our other schools which is okay with me but I I just I'm really grateful that we're able to get our budget to that point um I'm grateful to the mayor for making sure that we had access to those kind of funding to do that and because it
071was really important to us that that those schools have that so that's just last comment I want to use my two s worth like I do every time Miss Birkins you can relate to this the fact that our kids do not do well with open response question in mathematics should dictate practicing what an answer should look like not just with Math teachers Miss Fawn you may able to help out will you design a way to answer the question showing graphs and data to support your argument so that our kids get used to answering this type of question I'll leave it at that thank you very much okay oh I'm sorry Amy hi I love your work head on Amy there you go y um so I love what you've been doing I've always been a
072math kid and so I guess I'm talking for my former self and I know your focus will always be on you know raising us up all to one bar but for me in elementary school I always felt that I was never challenged and I'd love it if you could look into for the extended day opportunities something for like math competitions I got into them later on but something for element schools to for kids I know you don't really want to bring competition in it but something they can all kind of do to challenge themselves a bit yeah absolutely yeah uh Amy was a math kid growing up and she felt like she wasn't maybe challenged in elementary school and she got later in life or in high school got into math competitions and she thinks
073that that would would be a great after school program for the elementary school and I would say I agree I think that would be really fun so thank you thank you for that idea Amy of the mathletes way back in the day I don't know if they still do that at all anymore but I think some of the I don't know if any of the elementary schools are still doing that some schools did used to do mathletes but I'm not sure what schools are still doing it now but we can it's definitely something we could look into I mean even just across schools would be kind of fun you know so uh I think we could we could figure something out for sure absolutely thank you Amy okay item D superintendent's goals this is a
074for referral to teaching and learning can we take a vote on the approve oh I'm sorry motion to approve motion by mayor coch to approve the math program Improvement plan second second by Mr proli all those in favor I opposed the eyes haveit thank you superintendent schols thank you at your places um the proposed goals for the 20232 it should say 2024 school year um and this would be for referral to teaching and learning for additional discussion okay so be it okay we now have the masc convention resolutions Miss hule thank you everyone has these before them there the resolutions there are eight of them um some of them we can go over quicker than others because they do not pertain to us and in past we have um just had uh the body has
075had me abstain from these votes um such as the first one which is resolution one which is um full stable funding for metco um I would say in the past we have had me abstain to these type of votes I would entertain if that was what the body would like me to do again for this one if there's any discussion on that mississipp we all those in favor thank you moving on to resolution number two regards investigations and recommendations for transportation bidding procedures um therefore be it resolv that the masso school committees Prevail upon the office of the state auditor to investigate the bidding practices of school transportation providers and to present such findings and recommendations as may be necessary to contain costs and make efficient transportation services available for public schools know if there's
076open to conversation on that how you would prefer the vote go um again it doesn't really pertain to us because we don't do this but it is it has been disgraceful what's been going on in the common law around this so I think it would for me I wouldn't mind supporting this and a motion of Mrs Leo exed by Mr we approve yes okay all those in favor oppos okay um number three is also a regional transportation um am u a resolution so I would say that we would um move to um abstain on this one as well if anyone has any conversation on that motion Mr Stay by okay number four um this is a resolution for diversity equity and inclusion um therefore let it be resolved that Massachusetts Association of school committees recommends
077that all districts adopt the position of Dei coordinator to work towards an anti-racist School System since we have a Dei director um and I do like this says it recommends it's not insisting it's not saying they have to if they don't have the funding for this position it's only stating that we recommend that we do I would vote Yes discussioni that we accept have conversation first to see if they actually you can have a conversation does anyone have any conversation voting yes no I agree with you okay thank you all those in favor I yeah I have it okay thank you okay number five um is resolution five is a mass mass building School building authority um resolution and I have asked uh Mr melany to come up and discuss this resolution with us because
078there are four parts in the let it be resolved um further let it be resolved Let It Be Res three three um let it be resolved and I thought Mr molini would be better off to um go over that with us thank you this is in regarding the uh funding for the mass School building authority uh currently under master own law 70b it's cap at 88 $800 million per year uh and it can go up um 4.5% uh what they're and also has uh so basically what they're looking at is increase funding beyond the $800 million a year uh to put in the accelerated repair program which has stopped uh and uh basically would allow more money to go into the school building authority uh Quincy's been very fortunate um working with the school committee
079the mayor's office and our delegation as well as the treasurer's office we've received um a great deal of money through the msba as you know oftentimes when we're talking about projects we'll put them in the queue and have to wait till they come out back up again this might help alleviate some of that weight period if there were more funds available and again this is not anything from the districts themselves but it's additional funding at the state level this is Leo I have a question for you Jim so the 800 800 million cap is not because they don't bring in any more money it's just that they Capt it that they're still collecting money that they're do we know how much money they're collecting above the 800 with this is some percent of the sales
080tax I it is yeah yeah and and I know that in talking of the treasur of the Commonwealth there's there's more money needed it's not purely lifting the capab there's not enough funding either to meet the the demand out there so they don't they would have to they would have to raise more from the legislature will have to look at that issue yeah I think one of the areas they were probably looking at was the millionaires tax uh which is subject to appropriation yep that's correct as is circuit breaker and everything else as this I guess um I I think it's a good idea personally but I have no problem I mean some you know these are resolutions it's like writing a letter to Santa Claus I don't think [Laughter] it's it is well there
081are two other parts to this as well there's the second part that is the um reinstate The Accelerated repair program for the 2024 applications does that have any relevance to us uh We've we've used this program in the past for other um for our buildings uh for the repairs particularly boilers Windows things like that nature okay and then the second portion was um and the third portion was to allow public schools to be included in the accelerated repair program core program that's the same thing I believe that's for um the preschool yeah like the Early Childhood oh sorry yes that's right okay so that would actually benefit us as well so um so we vot yes on this vote second we approve all those in favor opposed eyes have all right and thank you Mr
082mainy appreciate you coming forward with that one thank you uh number six resolution is um school bus stop arm surveillance act and reinforcement of penalties um therefore let to be resolved that the Massachusetts Association of school committees calls on the Massachusetts leg legislator to legislature to enact legislation to pass a law um of the ability for cities and towns to install on all school buses um Live digital digital live video detection monitoring systems for the purpose of enforcing violations against owner of own the owner of the motor vehicle whose vehicle failed to stop for school buses when required to do so by law and further be resolved that the Massachusetts Association of school committees calls and basically to um increase the raising of fines for passing a school bus um to significant schedule of fines
083so um Mr this is an no-brainer safety of our kids absolutely I would say we vote Yes on this as well on a motion B py seconded by Mr Libo Mrs Libo we approve all those in favor I yeah he's have it Okay resolution seven is related to mcass um so it's you're have it before there's four sections um I don't know if anyone has any discussion on on the um where let it be resolved that Massachusetts Association of school committees um urges urges is the word Massachusetts to develop a WI more consensus built strategy for evaluation services that are meaning meaningful input from legis can't talk legislative stakeholders uh and like I said there are three other sections to this do we have any comments on this on this part of the therefore let
084it be resolved Mrs Lebo I you know I certainly I really really like the first one urges Massachusetts develop a wider more consensus buil strategy for an evaluation system with meaningful input I agree with that completely um comprehensive valuation investigate the extent of biases is a good thing but I don't know why you would ask them to stop all testing before they have some other plan that they are going to do something with so they should have an alternative to the high St mcast test yes but then should we stop what we're doing now and have nothing until they figure this stuff out I don't know I just I don't I'm not sure that I feel comfortable I conour with you on that absolutely there going to be me like what's there but right got
085be something ready to go there has to be some sort of accountability for us and for our our I just think there does so I'm not comfortable with this okay I could ask for um for an amendment to remove that portion if we were wanted to vote Yes on the rest of it if they took that out I would be able to go up and ask for them to amend it and if if it would have to be voted on by the body to take that section out and then if so then we could vote Yes but if not I would abstain I could do that that they just make a motion we okay I'm say I'm fine with doing that if that's what everybody want the motion Mrs Leo seconded by mayor Coke we
086vote no okay all those in favor oppose you them if you want yeah I can go up and say that we're not in favor of that section okay uh and the last section is um resolution 8 is the safe storage of firearms um which recommends the district's urge their superintendent and staff to create an appropriate communication to parents and Guardians that explains the importance of secure firearm storage to protect children and teams from unauthorized access to unsecure firearms and their legal obligations consistent to the Massachusetts safe storage law and that Massachusetts Association of school committees urges other communities to work with their law local law enforcement agents agencies Health agencies and nonprofit organizations to communicate and to collaborate their and increase efforts to inform District parents and guardians of their obligations regarding Secure Storage and
087firearms in their homes and in their vehicles and I would vote Yes on this I think that's absolutely something we should urge superintendents to do okay on a motion Mrs hule we vote Yes is there a second Mr boli Seconds all those in favor opposed the eyes have it thank you very much thank you Mrs H okay superintendent items F G H and I thank you um we have a grant for your U consideration and approval for the 2023 2024 school year the department of Elementary and secondary education has awarded quiny public schools of Social and emotional learning mental health Grant of 8,325 to approve motion May Coke seconded by Mrs Leo superintendent and just want to thank more pel for her work on that and getting that Grant thank you more all those in
088favor oppos the eyes have it item G oh I'm sorry that's a roll call roll call vote uh Mr boli yes kahill Mr gutro Mrs hu yes Mrs Libo Mrs Santoro May Coke yes item G uh this is another Grant asking for your approval The quiny Lodge of Elks has made their ual donation of dictionaries to 750 grade 3 students valued at $1,625 motion of Mr broli seconded by Mrs Lio superintendent Mr boli yes Mrs kahill Mr Gat Mrs hu yes Mrs Libo Mrs Santoro yes mayor Coke yes thank you item H uh overnight travel out of state uh April 5th through the 10th 2024 North quinsey High School Air Force Junior RC to New Jersey Maryland in Virginia motion Mrs hu seconded by Mrs Lio superintendent I think that's an all in favor all
089in favor oh it's Rog call oh it is a r I'm sorry I'm sorry the wrong thing all in favor vote all in favor opposed the eyes haveit thank you next is overnight travel out of the country April 13th to the 21st 2024 Quincy High School grades 10 through 12 to Venice Italy lucern Switzerland Paris and France nice on the motion superintendent I'm sorry May on a motion by mayor K second by Mrs Libo all those in favor I oppos the high Sait thank you seeing no additional business in Communications we have upcoming school committee meetings on November 15th and December 13th at 6:30 May Coke Communications yes I received today uh communication from the school building authority it was interesting we were talking about the accelerated program and the funding and so forth uh
090I'd ask Mrs Owens if she could read it into the record dear mayor Co police report that the board of the Massachusetts school building authority voted to approve the proposed accelerated repair project for the in the city of quinsey for a boiler replacement project at the Francis W Parker School a partial roof replacement at the Monclair school and a partial roof replacement at the wallon school the board approved an estimated maximum total facilities grant for each project as shown in the table below which does not include any funds for potentially eligible owners or construction contingency expenditures in the event that the msba determines that any owners Andor construction contingency expenditures are eligible for reimbursement the maximum total facilities grant for the Francis W Parker School the Monclair school and the wallison school school projects may
091increase to each amount shown below the final Grant amounts will be determined by the msba based on a review and audit of all project costs incurred by the city in accordance with the mba's regulations policies and guidelines and the Project funding agreement the final Grant amount may be an amount less than the estimated maximum total facilities grant for Francis Parker the estimated maximum total facilities Grant is 6,920 for Montclair $648,500 44,7 183 pursuant to the terms of the mba's accelerated repair program the city has 90 days to acquire and certify local approval for an appropriation and all of the necessary local votes or approvals showing acceptance of the cost site type scope and timeline excuse me for the Francis W Parker School the Monclair school and the wallison school projects upon receip of the certified
092votes demonstrating local approval the msba and the city will execute a Project funding agreement which will set forth the terms and conditions pursuant to which the city will receive its Grant from the msba once the Project funding agreement has been executed by both parties the city will be eligible to submit requests for reimbursement for proposed project cost to the msba we'll be contacting you soon to discuss these next steps in more detail but in the meantime I wanted to share with you the board's approval for a boiler replacement project at the Francis W Parker School a partial grof replacement at the Monclair school and a partial roof replacement at the wallison school and the board's authorization to execute a Project funding agreement for this proposed project sincerely Mary L petti executive director so we got
093it in under the wire before the cap was put on uh I do want to publicly thank uh Treasurer State Tre treasure Deb Goldberg the board uh and our state delegation who has committed to funding these programs so we're grateful for that and we'll keep that process moving so it'll be something before the city council in the coming months thank you ma'am okay there are no reports of subcommittees I want to yeah some teaching and learning or sip soon I don't see anything I don't want to be I don't want to be stewing sips in February no I have I have a draft to share okay thank you I do want to recognize two students again Amy thank you for your presence but I want to welcome Molly Smith kada and quinzii thank you for
094coming in participating we love to hear from you thank you with that on a motion to Mayor coch seconded by Mrs Yu we go into executive session for two reasons contract negotiations in school property we will not be coming back motion to approve the executive sessions Mr M yes m h yes s yes may yes okay thank you all thank you