School Committee Meeting: January 22, 2026

001All right, good evening everyone. Today is Thursday, January 22nd, 2026, and this is a meeting of the Milford School Committee. We will start our night tonight with a student representative update. >> Okay, so for starters, we just started semester 2. Pretty big news. Um, we wrapped up midterms last week and then we had a nice long weekend to relax, take a break, watch the Patriots game. And then when we came back on Tuesday, we had a course selection day where students met with every class to discuss placements for next year. And now our guidance counselors are working extra hard to place meetings with every student to plan next year's schedules. Um, as we look into the second semester, we have some very exciting things coming up. First, a group of students and two of our

002Spanish teachers are headed to Spain in February, including myself. Um, that's for an exchange program, so we'll be staying with like host families. Best Buddies is preparing for their annual pageant in April. And then we have a couple dances coming up. So, sophomores have their ring dance, junior prom, and then senior prom. The freshman don't get a dance. And then the application process for National Honor Society has also opened up. So that induction will be in May. Next, I asked Mr. Buchchet to share a couple highlights from the winter season so far. Um, our girls basketball team has been doing very well. They've been putting up a lot of points and putting up some good fights against the Hawk teams. We are currently top 20 in the power rankings. And so to make playoffs, you

003have to be like 32. So right now, we're looking really good. And then we've also had youth basketball teams play at pretty much every halftime. The wrestling team and boys swim teams are also expected to um clinch the Hawk titles again. So, this would be the swim team's second year in a row and the wrestling team's sixth year in a row. The girls indoor track team broke a school record in the sprint medley at the state relay race. So, that was Liza Mora, Juliana Senna, Iana Cora, and Kira Murphy. Our unified botchi and strength and conditioning teams are getting ready for their playoff jamboree. Um our cheer team is headed to nationals in March and then they will also be recognized at the state house for um their fall state championship. And then lastly, we're

004preparing to host the boys and girls Hakamok swim championships in two weeks. And then for music, we have a classical concert on the 25th of February at Town Hall. um that's featuring the chorus and orchestra and we are super excited to play at town hall. We haven't played there since precoid I believe and the acoustics are amazing. And then we also have our annual band and orchestra vertical concerts. Those are at the gym. So acoustics are not amazing but it's okay. [laughter] Um and then just this past weekend we had several musicians perform at the central district's concert. We had five band members and six chorus members. And then finally in April, um the music department is taking a trip to Hershey Park. And that's pretty much all I have tonight. >> Any questions? >>

005So, what are we looking forward to in Spain? >> I'm really excited. So, we're going to Malaga >> and then we're going to do like Granada and Madrid and Sevilla. So, it'll be a lot of fun. >> My mom's a little nervous, though. [laughter] >> All right. Thank you very much. Thanks for the update. >> And that brings us to the recognition of promising practices recipients. >> So I'm going to invite up Christine Shabet, Kelly Horn, Caroline Glenn, and Heidi Squadrio from Memorial. And each year, the Blackstone Valley Curriculum Consortium recognizes and celebrates educators from member districts, which were one of um that pre present innovation and best practices. This past school year, we recognized the outstanding contributions to the profession of teaching um of these four ladies. Um Christine Shabbet is a kindergarten teacher

006at Memorial. Kelly Horn is a first grade teacher at Memorial. Um Caroline Glenn is a second grade teacher at Memorial and Heidi Squadrio is our math specialist. Um and they created what we called fish fishbowl classrooms. Um and so I'm just going to read um a blurb from the promising practices of education that they received um at the breakfast at um BBT. Um together they developed a kindergarten grade 1 and grade 2 classroom that implements illustrative mathematics with integrity through intentional unit and lesson internalization planning. Through this work, fishbowl classrooms were created to share best practices while implementing illustrative mathematics and create a professional learning community at the school level where teachers learn from other teachers while strengthening their pedagogical skills and deepening their mathematical content knowledge. This group of teachers saw some of the

007greatest growth in their students last year at Memorial Elementary School in mathematics, and I know that they're continuing to improve their practice this year. They are also working to become teacher leaders by facilitating different TCT times with their colleagues. They're teaching them different math content that's present in the warm-ups of illustrative mathematics and they're supporting their colleagues in consistent planning and implementation. And so a huge thank you and a huge congratulations to you guys um on the Blackstone Valley Curriculum Consortium's Promising Practices Award um for this past school year. Um, I didn't tell you all when we invited you all, but does anybody have anything um that they want to share with the school [laughter] committee? Not that I want to put you on the spot um about your experience or work with your students.

008>> Um, I mean, I I am honored to have this experience. It has really changed my practice and I'm excited to lead this forward to my colleagues. Um, it's something like we always want to grow and this is a good next step. Um, I want to thank all the administration and support. Um, because without them, it probably wouldn't be possible. So, it means a lot that you uh, you know, entrusted us to, to do this. And, uh, thank you. >> Everything she [laughter] said. >> Well, I will say, um, tomorrow afternoon, we're actually all going to Kelly Horn's classroom in grade 1, and we're bringing some teachers from Woodland down, um, to see some of the great work. and so that they can continue to kind of build their practice together as a group of

009teacher leaders at different grade levels, but also start to spread it um at Woodland and eventually at Brookside. So, they're continuing to do the work. Um also, although they got this award this past school year, um I know that they're continuing to to grow in that this year. >> Can I add >> um >> I think that we'd be remiss if we didn't also recognize Carrie who is also instrumental in this. She led a lot of this work. Um, we talked about, I believe last during last year, we talked about a lot of the work that was going on in these fishbowl classrooms. Um, and this really being a model for professional development, uh, not only in Milford but across the region. This is this is the kind of professional development that moves kids forward

010and moves um, teachers forward. And I think that they they would agree. Um, it's a heck of a lot of work though. a heck of a lot of work. They they worked um I think they met weekly, right? If not more. Um [laughter] >> morning. >> But it's the it's the sustained coaching and somebody facilitating all of these different meetings that um really help them hone in on on the the skills and the practices that we wanted kids to know. So, um, this is a huge accomplishment for, uh, these four teachers, a huge accomplishment for Carrie, and I'm glad to see that we're able to move it forward, uh, over at Woodland and and try to keep spreading it, but it's a huge commitment, too. And so, that's not lost on me, the amount of

011time and effort that you all put in on this. So, thank you for that. I appreciate it. >> Excellent. >> Any uh, excellent. [applause] Definitely. Thank you for that. It's a lot harder. um questions or comments from anybody on that committee? >> Sure. >> Sorry. So, thank you. I know so much work goes into it, particularly where it's a new curriculum. Uh and then on top of that, we dropped another new curriculum on you. Thank you also for all that hard work. We really appreciate it. Because it's a newer curriculum for Milford. I'd love to hear either from one of your perspective or maybe even what you think from a student's perspective in terms of how the core curriculum is also helping drive this growth because at the end of the day, that's what it's

012about, Reds, our students learning. Just curious kind of your takes on IM. You know, we sit here and we get to hear about it and we approve it, but we don't necessarily have that true appreciation for what it that core HQIM looks like in practice. I don't know if you'd be willing to comment on that. >> Um, I can say um I think that we were very lucky because when Carrie first introduced this curriculum to us, she was very thoughtful and she was very precise in how she led us in our PD for the first two years, almost three years of it. So we had a pretty solid background of it like from a high level. But through this process, we've been able to really internalize at the unit level and the lesson level. So

013when we go into a lesson with our students, we know exactly where I am wants to lead them and then we can be the ones to help facilitate them getting there. It's definitely an exploration first with the teacher in the back seat, which is very different than how we were trained to be teachers and also just curriculums in the past. So, it's actually been really nice to take a step back and let our students lead us and then we can kind of look at their misconceptions. We can take pieces of the standards that we now have internalized and we can input it into that curriculum. So, it's been a really positive experience for all of us. um because of Carrie's leadership and then allowing us to then become leaders of our own in our school.

014>> That's excellent. And >> I'd also like to just add on um I don't think it would be possible to do this level of professional development and diving into the curriculum if we didn't have a [laughter] curriculum which is what was before. And then we're also able to see the progression of standards um in a really thoughtout way that I am did for us. Um >> and yeah, it's just been a big learning um opportunity. >> Excellent. Well, thank you all because I know the core job is so much work and then to layer this on and not only do your students benefit, but it sounds like the entire school district and maybe beyond is benefiting from the hard work. So, thank you >> and learning from all of these ladies and the collaboration has

015been key. Can I can I push them to give you a Yeah. >> Can you [laughter] guys talk a little bit about like the shift, right? So like what is the difference between when you were teaching your lessons that you guys were writing in IM? Like what is making it different and what is making the HQIM so important for you in in IM? Um I think it's the the way we you know thoughtful questioning um and just knowing you know knowing the standards and diving in um our you know previous curriculums were >> um spiraling we touched upon a topic this is so it's different it's >> and not knowing where they came from like I teach second grade so not knowing what exactly was taught in first grade and and what I'm preparing them

016for in third grade Excellent. >> It's been a good opportunity to see like how we all connect >> and like the why behind our math because yes, we used to teach a curriculum that spiraled and so you get glimpses of like the why, but this is it's very intentional and so we can then deliver it. And then also like there's like all these little like math language routines that are really great, not just for like our multilingual learners, but for all of our students and we've gotten to do like different protocols with them that we probably would have never had the experience to get to do. >> That's right. >> For me, I get to go in all three grade levels and seeing when you spoke about the progression, um it's really interesting. I'll be

017in if people are really on pace, which we are much better being on pace now. Um, but I'll be in maybe a kindergarten room and then I'll go to first grade and the lessons are um they're like sisters. >> So what what they're learning in kindergarten is setting them up for what's happening in first grade and first grade into second. And it's like it's the same lesson but at the level and what the goals require at that grade level. >> Interesting. >> So it's really interesting to see that. >> Thank you. appreciate that. >> Also, uh we mentioned the progression from year to year, but um IM does a really nice job of um making the progression within the year really purposeful. Um just specifically thinking about second grade, we learn about the ruler and

018then after um we do our whole measurement unit. Then we talk about the number line and talk about how that's connected and that students are much more prepared to learn about the number line because they've seen a ruler before and they understand what a ruler is. >> That's really tangible. Thank you. >> Any other comments or >> comment? just thank you for diving in on this and uh you know it's a little bit of a wilderness you don't know what you're gonna get yourself into but thank [laughter] you for that all that hard work and it looks like you're having a lot of success with it so keep it keep it going and keep it hope it branches out thank you >> thank you thank you >> just a well first congratulations and thank you

019um question um feedback from parents like do how do they how have they received this new change and anything that stood out to you in particular >> if there is >> I think It's um a shift, >> okay? >> Because when even like when we were in school, it was more based on like your procedural math skills, like your math facts and it was more memorization based. It was very surface level. So when we're sending home more higher level questioning along with those math facts, they're like, "Well, why can't you just give us like a math fact?" [laughter] And I'm like, "I love this. We want fluency. We also want them to know why when you add those two numbers together, you're making a 10 or why when you're adding 20 and 30, you get

02050 because of place value. So, we've had to kind of preview not only for our students but for their families so that it can be as successful as possible. IM does give us like these really great family letters that we get to send home before each unit. Um, so [clears throat] it's really nice that we can we can give the info to our students, but we can also help their families stay connected, too. >> Great. That's something to look forward to. Now, [laughter] >> so exciting. >> Thank you. >> Um, I'll just say, you guys don't realize the dots who just connected for me, too, because my second grader at Brookside today was in a bit of a ranting mood talking about how she feels like this is like the third year in a row

021she's done the same thing again. [laughter] It sounds like she has with additional steps to it. So, um it it all connects and and you know to their point, >> it's a shift because when we grew up it was >> you know you know your timetables because I told you to [laughter] >> and it works. Um but knowing the why I think is a big deal in a world where that's a lot of collaboration and questioning is is just normal and even in the business world. So um thank you for what you guys have been doing I think it's a huge benefit and I look forward to seeing how this grows too. All right, thank you for coming. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> All right, we do have invitation to speak

022next and I do not see anybody for that. So, we can move along to announcements, correspondence, and distributions. Anybody have anything here? See nothing. Okay, we'll go to the general chairperson update. I have two um quick things. There is an update from the MSBA side. I believe was it last week. Two finalists were selected to be interviewed for the designer phase. Did I get that right? Um so that will be happening in the coming weeks. I believe >> Next Tuesday. There we go. Thank you. And then the other update I have for you is last week a group of people uh consisting of myself um Dr. Sigley and some people from the MTA met to start a discussion on the specialist workload um specific committee to talk about essentially non-eing staff positions or workloads and

023stuff like that. So it was very high level but it was a good um session of just getting things on the board in terms of what these positions are and and what we're looking to accomplish. So I um pretty confident that I think a lot of good stuff is going to come from there. It was good discussion. More to come on that one. And we can go on now to the supervisors of attendance update. >> Thank you both for making time to be here tonight. >> Thank you for having us. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Thanks for having us again. So, uh, I'm Victor Canino. I'm the guy on the left. Dale Olsson, my partner, my partner. So, since last year, so there was a little change in the in regards to uh how we're approaching

024the attendance. Uh the administration here at the high school wanted to have an attendance supervisor in the building. Dale and I were doing the whole district last year. So this year uh they switched it up kind of like a pilot pro program if you will. Uh, so Dale's been basically focusing in from 9 to grades 9 through 12 and I've been handling K through 8. Uh, so we've divided up the responsibilities in that sense. So I'll speak to the issues or what we're doing in K through 8 and uh Dale about cleanup and do 9 through 12. Uh so in terms of K through8 so basically uh if you guys remember last year we spoke about how we're going about approaching the issue. So I I believe if my memory serves me correctly, we're uh

025we're trying to identify the families that are usually chronically absent, right? So if you look at it from K through 12, so during the uh we're identifying those families uh K through two beginning the process of hey, this is important. we have you got to kind of keep an eye on this and so on and so forth. >> Sorry. >> And just basically intervening all the way along. In any event, what does that look like? So what we in essence do is we have weekly meetings with the school building administrators or the building team, principal, assistant principal, adjustment counselor's guidance uh and we go over the chronically absent list and uh we start identifying who's who and what's what. those more chronic cases, we whittle it down. So those cases that need immediate attention, we

026we jump on those uh immediately and start addressing, you know, making contact with the family and conducting interventions. uh as part of that whole process and how to kind of make the program stronger. Uh we've gone to uh we've gone out to the community in essence and uh try to for example the uh we went to community use. So this their summer program at the end of the summer just before school starts, we're going in and talking to the kids about the importance of school attendance, kind of planting the seed for the year. Also doing the same thing at the Milford Youth Center. Uh there camp, we're going to be doing the same thing. A week before school, sit down, give him literature. Hopefully, they'll get it to the parents. We're going to open that

027up to the parents and if they show up, they show up. Uh we're also working with the family uh resource center, the FRC. So, we use them quite a bit in terms of translation services. They have a lot of information [clears throat] as to the families because a lot of the non English speaking families usually call them first and say, "Hey, how do we handle this?" So, we kind of interact with them quite a bit. And then we got pediatric urgent care, which is a resource outside of the school system. They're in the community. They're social workers and they basically help us, you know, educate the family and and help them, you know, overcome the obstacles that are creating the absenteeism. Uh so so the interventions so we meet we identify and we address. So

028what what what is an intervention? So again we connect with everybody in the team in the building right social workers the whole whoever wants to be part of the team whoever teachers the more information we have the better again it's all about understanding the families obstacles that are creating that absence whether it's transportation hunger whatever it is right and then assisting with that we got to meet them where they're that uh we meet with the student, you know, we we approach the student, hey, you know, what's going on? And you know, meeting with a middle school student as to why they're missing school, you get all sorts of different answers. So the majority so there's there I mean you can just imagine what some of the answers we hear. In any event we also meet

029with the parents if things ain't working out and and after the first initial intervention ain't working we meet with the parent. Uh we also conduct home part of the intervention could be a home visit and that takes different forms right elementary school some kids or some parents for whatever reason don't send their first kinder kindergarten first grader second grader for three days four days teachers get worried hey we haven't seen them you know do a wellness check hey what's going on you know so it could be food insecurity too right Hey, we just So, there's that. For those families that are involved with DCF, we collaborate with them. We're starting to make better inroads there. Uh so, you know, we're cultivating that relationship. Uh and after this whole process, if things ain't working, then we

030have to start talking about court intervention. the CRA process. We are we're making some inroads in there. The problem that we've been having there is we've had four judges in three years, right? >> So, there's a huge turnover there that's out of our control. But, you know, and what you need to understand about that process, it's not a uh punitive situation. It's based on services, right? So if it ain't working, we go to them. We're doing everything. We've we've we explain the what we've done and then they help us get services in addition to what we're trying to get. And uh yeah, so that's but that's a you know, so another thing you need to understand the CRA process is the last resort. We we we make sure that the parents understand this ain't punitives.

031This is all about services and you know you because the the judge can order a court evaluation and it gets all into social service type of uh component services whatever you want to call it about assisting the family. Okay. So this here is the attendance rate. So uh so this is the overall attendance rate for the last three years. On January 6 uh we had a 9.4% running attendance rate. In the previous two years, we had a running attendance rate uh during in the same day January 16th of the previous years of 94.1 uh we had an increase of.3% uh running attendance rate compared to the last two years. Uh it might not seem a lot but the ship it's impacting the ending attendance rate. So see if I can explain this to you. So

032the this is the attendance rate changes daily based on the number of days that we are in school. Okay. So just keep that in mind and maybe I can explain it better with the next slide which is the chronically absent. All right. So the rule of thumb is or Desi's rule of thumb is if a student is absent 10% during this any given day during the school year, he's considered chronically absent. Right? So we've been in school, I don't know, 86, 90 days somewhere in there. So right now any student who's at 98 or better or higher is considered chronically absent, right? So that changes as the days go, right? Uh so during uh school year 2324, we ended the year at 16.4 and K through eight. uh those and that number is chronically absent

033students uh as I'm saying so last year we had it 17.2 too. Okay. So, you say, "Okay, what was the jump?" The circum there was the circumstances that we all see on the news that was kind of we think that was kind of like the increase because there was two or three day period there that how many kids were out? >> Over a thousand kids were out. So, that just so that you see that increase we think. and we're, you know, and we sit down and we try to analyze these numbers and we try to figure out the wise and the because okay uh so yeah, so as of January 16th of this current year, we're sitting at 15.6. Okay. Uh, and that's basically K through 8. Uh, I'll let my partner take over for,

034uh, the high school. >> Yeah. So, at the high school this year, I was told, um, this past summer that I'd be concentrating solely on the high school this year. Um, so I met with the team here, Mr. Otland, Mr. Pier Gustavo, Miss Sinsky, Mr. Veto. um they came up with a plan that they wanted to implement and I've been implementing it. So it's a datadriven um targeting. So this summer it started with grade eight. We recognized some of the chronically absent grade eights and what the team did this summer was started to meet with the families this summer just to get a a head start to get them ready for to be a freshman here at the high school. Um what I do here is um each day uh I meet I go through

035a list um we work with academics attendance ongoing bi-weekly analysis um like I said Mr. Alton and his team put together a great plan here um that's all data driven. So I look at a spreadsheet every day. I have anywhere from 80 to 150 kids that I'll look at on a daily basis. That's on a daily basis. On a bi-weekly basis on any given day, we could have 240 to 280 kids that could be chronically absent. So bi-weekly, I'm hitting those other kids and bringing them in. Um yes. So early intervention is what we're we're targeting. So when I see a kid that um is struggling a little bit, I'll bring them in. I'll do an intervention. We'll have a sit down. Um along with that, I'm usually reaching out to the parent. Um to

036date, I've probably done about I think I saw the number this morning, 340 350 interventions this year. So that's between me meeting with a student and me meeting with a parent. Um the team here is working closely um with I work closely with the adjustment counselors here who have been great, the guidance counselors here who have been great. Um pediatric urgent care, the bridges program um and I meet with the vice principles bi-weekly. Uh yeah. So out of that when I have an intervention, what we're trying to see is like Victor said with K through eight, it's kind of the same drive what I'm doing. Is there something going on at home, right? We're trying to figure that out. Um does this student need um clothing? Does do they need food? What's driving these students

037not to come to school here at the high school? When I figure that out, then I get the team involved. Is it a counselor? Is it a bridges program or something like that? and I will refer them to that program and then I still monitor along as as they're handling it. Disciplinary, that's the last thing we want to do here at the high school, but I do have the ability to discipline a kid with a Saturday school. Um, if we can't rein them in, as you know, the CRA process works from 6 to 16. Um, so at the age of 16, we can no longer use the court system to help us. Um, so having the ability to tell a student like, "Hey, you know, you've reached x amount of days. I'm going to you're

038going to have a Saturday school." So I have the ability to do that. I haven't done too many of those this year. More for tardies than attendance. Um, but our numbers are doing really, really well now, and we'll get to that slide. Um, as you can see, we're we have the highest rate of improvement here in our district at the high school this year. Um again and that's driven by the team and what the team has done this year to improve attendance. Uh we have the best reduction in chronic absenteeism in our district um for this year. Um rate of improvement is surpassing last year by a lot. Um significant improvement from our ninth graders. I think that is because we targeted those kids this summer. Um the team did significant improvement in in our

039ELS. Yeah. So it's it's you know that's going to be our protocol. Um I just want to touch just a little bit. I'll I'll give you some more numbers. So 2425 our 9th grade was sitting at 24.6%. We're currently 4.1% down in our nth grade. Um 10th grade last year finished the year at 29.9 chronically absent. We're down 9.3% right now at 20.6. 11th grade finished last year at 33.8 chronically um absent. We're 10.8% down right now. Um our senior class last year finished at 36.8% chronically absent. We're down 8.1 and we're sitting at 8%. So, I think what we're doing here and how we're targeting here is is working. Um, we're halfway through the school year. Um, I don't have one single kid in court right now, right? And our numbers are dropping drastically.

040I think it's because of the team here, Mr. Alan, our vice principles, our guidance counselors. They're making a concertive effort this year to get attendance here at the high school under control. And right now, it's it's working. Do you want me to speak on this? Yeah. So, >> so we've come up with a a district-wide collaboration um and trying to align. So, we cross paths quite a bit, Victor and I because of siblings, right? So, we're always collaborating together. We could have one in high school, one at Woodland, one at Brookside, one at Memorial, right? So, what we're trying to do is make sure everybody is um >> informed. >> Yes. and we're all on the same page and we're sending the same message districtwide of how we're handling handling absentes. >> Can I can

041I add to that? >> Yeah. >> So, that helps us with the families. As you can imagine, some families are where they are in their processing time and they're struggling or whatever. And what we kind of figured out was that the parent has to go to work and has to keep the lights on and everything else and my and can't be going to four different meetings if she has or five different meetings in five different buildings and missing work. So basically, if Dale finds out that there's siblings in K through eight or whatever, or I find out that they got a sibling, I'll call, hey, have you met with her with the parent? You know, what's going on? And that way we can kind of, you know, be unified with one me one solid message,

042district-wide solid message for that one family. So, you're dealing with one family as opposed to four or five different kids and that seems to be working and catching on. >> I think it's just it's it's data driven, right? And uh so everything gets logged all the numbers so I can see on a daily basis, hey, is this kid is he in the green doing well? If he starts to go in the red when I look at him on a daily basis, I immediately do an intervention, right? It could be a phone call home. Um it could be pulling the student in. Like I said, I've done like 340 interventions this year. So, I'm constantly having kids come down and building relationships with them. Um, and I I think in the high school I obviously it's

043working. Our numbers are dropping drastically. Um, and these kids are coming to school at a better rate at the high school this year. Like I said, I think it's been a team effort here at the high school. Everybody is on the same page and working together and it's making a difference here. So you see up there continuing to define consistent tier one, tier two, tier three attendance interventions across the district, right? So the MTSS system. So you know multi-tiered uh what's the S stand for? I I can't remember. I'm just having a blank. >> support system. Sorry about that. Uh so tier one basically is every student there. The message that we're trying to get out to the community overall community is school is important. These are the reasons why and that's part of the

044going to community use and the youth center. We're trying to come up with ideas on how to open up that that message to make it you know cast a wider net. Okay. A couple of years ago, we went to the local TV station and we kind of had a quick uh informative session. So, we're kind of mulling that around. Uh I think if I could just add and kind of wrap up um for you guys, I think um what I think is is most important to point out in this presentation is um the fact that the high school had this plan. Um and I don't know if you remember, but in last year in the budget cycle, Josh had put up another attendance supervisor. So, we talked it through and I know they had a

045plan. So, we assigned Dale to the high school just so we could see Josh execute the plan and see how it would go. Um, you know, proof of concept really. Uh, and by all accounts, it's going well. So, the key next step for us is how do we take what we've learned at the high school now and apply it to Victor in the role that he's at. Um, I think early when we had initiated our attendance officers, we focused solely on the the lower elementary schools. Um, but I also think that Dale's work this year is proving that, you know, if we intervene with older kids, um, we can make a difference with older kids. So, it may be it may be that next year that we assign Victor just to Stacy Middle School um

046and we figure out a plan for the the elementary students, but maybe let's try ele um Stacy and see if we can make some headway there. So, um I think they're both doing a great job. They both are important members of the team. Um and I'm I'm happy to see the work that they're doing and the proof is in the statistics that we're seeing. So, well done, gentlemen. >> Thank you. Any questions? >> Question. Thank you for this information. Appreciate the data driven concept. Obviously, it sounds like the plan um particularly the high schools really working, which is great. So, thanks for all your efforts. We're about to enter our budget season and I know each case you deal with is probably fairly nuanced in terms of what are the children and the family need.

047Any themes that we can consider from a district perspective in terms of what we could fund that would actually really make a difference in addressing some of the challenges? I mean it's Yeah. I don't I think >> we tried a unique I'm giving an example. We tried a unique bus an additional bus route at one point like just are there anything that's coming up that >> I mean I think that that worked. >> Yeah. Because transportation obviously is an obstacle >> is a is a driving factor but like >> especially in the winter >> winter right so like our numbers are going to creep up a little bit. I mean we're hidden like I saw the snow that's coming the cold that's coming. Um, you know, last year at this time when we would have

048a one degree, I got in my car at 5:30 to come to lifts the other morning and it was one degree and all it went through was not to go train my kids. I'm like, how many kids are going to be out today in the high school? Last year, we would have 140 to 160 out. Um, on that particular day, we had 87. >> So, I'm like, "All right, it's working, right?" I mean, yeah, we talk about transportation. Um, the Smith back there, I constantly call her. I'm like, "Can we please get this kid on the bus? I know he's 1.7 miles, but can he walk here and get on a bus? I mean, transportation is a huge thing, especially, you know, with our kids. >> And then maybe one suggestion, I know you're trying

049to do a lot of tier one effort. Maybe the summer lunch program is a good stop around. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. >> Thanks, Matt. >> Thank you very much for coming in to present. Obviously, yeah, the numbers don't lie. Certainly, we we've made some really great gains at the high school and as Craig said, you know, how to bring that down to the uh to the middle school level. Uh Dale, you touched on a little bit on um tardiness. >> Yep. >> I get in the future maybe we can see some of that and kind of what those where are we at and then any strategies that there and I don't again >> no need to really speak to it, but I think that that's also important that >> showing up is one thing, but also

050showing up on time. um because we you know we know that it's going to be a lifelong >> uh expectation. So to set that set that expectation very early. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, I like the proactive approach that you're using. Um those are the pilot program. It's been helpful. Uh and obviously like what what Craig had said um uh you know the students when you in high school if they feel like you're that they're important you know you're calling them you're looking for them that definitely can help. Uh just a little insight what's it what what happens when you uh knock on a door like when you have when you have um are are you multilingual bilingual? >> Yeah I am. Okay. So where you 10 out of 10 times >> call first. >>

051Mhm. >> Right. Of hey, we're coming. This is what we right. We are we go together, you know, for safety reasons and the rest of it. >> Uh and you know, we just have a discussion and this is what we >> And Victor is um Spanish, right? English and Spanish. So if we're going to a Portuguese house where um we will have an F FRC member meet us at the house so we could have a meeting. >> All right. Thank you. >> Yeah. And yeah. >> So low key. >> Yes. >> And Victor, you shared with me um that a lot of times those conversations are really focused around like the hopes and dreams, right, >> of the families, right? And less it's less punitive, right? And so it's not them showing up and and

052you know strongarmingies to get to school, but really starting to like unpack the hopes and dreams and how attendance is really important as a part of the hopes and dreams of their of the families to get their their children into into the schools. >> That usually gets them. I mean it drives the point home. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thanks for coming, guys. >> Thanks guys for having us. >> Have a great evening. Thank you. Okay, we can move on to the director of transportation update next. >> No, it's mine. >> Yeah. >> Hi. >> Whoa. >> Hi. >> Hello. Okay. >> Um, Craig, do you have the slideshow or do we need to put it up? I I think >> it's in the agenda. It's in everyone's agenda. >> Do you want me

053to present? >> No, you don't. You guys have it. >> Everybody has it. So, >> um, >> so my name is Lauren Smith. I'm the new transportation director for Milford Public Schools. Um, I've been in the job six months now. Learning curve to say the least. Um, but I'll be brief with um my comments as you all have the slideshow and I've gone over this with Craig. Um, heading into the budget season, as you hear, transportation is always going to be one of the bigger expenditures that we have and if we can increase, we try to do that. Um, here in Milford, we run a hybrid model of our own buses and vans and also we partner with Vendetti and other contractors. Um depending on the situations, most of our outofd district runs are contracted

054out um so that we can keep the vans that you see out front here in district for our special education students which currently to date we have 124 students that we are transporting on vans and the mini buses um to our local schools here. um out of district students. I think we're at 56 that we send out of district on vendor vehicles. Um and then every day we have um the influx of the McKini Vento homeless students and we also have foster students that come through that we need to find transportation for. So those are on the fly. Um bids are quick between companies trying to figure out who can give us the best rate tomorrow. Um, so that's definitely been challenging, but you know, it's it's it's been fun actually to see the difference

055in jobs from where I came from in recreation and running summer camps and after school programs to to this side of it. So, um, I have enjoyed it. Um, there are legal requirements that I've had to learn about that kids can't be on a on a bus or a van for more than an hour. If their trip is from here to Worcester and they stop and pick up a couple of other kids and it extends beyond that, we have to find a new ride. So, those are the things that I'm learning along the way. Um, from a budget standpoint, we do try to maximize our in-house bus drivers for field trips, for athletic trips. um if we're transporting students from Stacy to here for tours um because you know we figured out on a spreadsheet

056that it's much more cost-effective. It's not free to have our buses run those routes but it's definitely more cost-effective than a vendor. Um Vendetti's been a fabulous partner for us um for me for to learn the routes. I mean they definitely know our bus routes and the students. Um, so I've learned a ton from from Vendetti. Um, of course my focus is that transportation is safe and compliant and and financially responsible for every single trip and every single day. Um, I just look forward to continuing doing what I'm doing and in the learning curve of it and when and you know Craig have been instrumental to that as well. Um, so that's kind of where I stand at this point. If you have any questions, I'm, you know, more than happy to try and answer

057them or get back to you with answers in in the future. >> Hello. Go ahead. >> First, welcome to the district. I'm sure it was quite a bit of a learning curve, so I appreciate the effort that you put in. Um, thank you for all that. Um, it may be a little challenging to answer this question now just because you probably I don't know if the words in your mouth probably feel like you've been treading water for a little bit [laughter] as opposed to like >> true >> you know giving your group. Do you see any Thank you. >> um new initiatives that you like just from what you've been able to see the last six months, new initiatives going forward, maybe not even from next school year, but from the year after that you

058would like to try to implement and and go forward with >> um something I would like to move forward with is Craig's not going to like this answer, but bus registration. [laughter] >> What What is that? So, we >> as you can tell, I've touched upon a subject real quick here. >> Um, >> I love that. >> Great. Yeah, [laughter] >> we transport many students to and from babysitters or daycarees or grandparents houses. Um, and we try and have them from point A to school back to point A. We don't want a point B unless there's a legal case of, you know, whatever that would be. Um, if we implement a bus registration, now that doesn't mean a fee would be associated with it. Would just be paperwork, a Google form most likely to start

059with to figure out if how to make it work better of where they are. We have I have over a thousand emails since the beginning of school of address changes. um trying to keep up on where kids are through the F FRC is a challenge. Um so if it came through my office at the beginning of the year and not that that would be perfect either, but it just possibly puts it on somebody's radar like, hey, we moved or we need transportation from the babysitter or the daycare rather than us going to their house and they're not there. Um oh well, we're at this place. Um, and that doesn't go through the F FRC. So, I think if I could figure out how to get bus registration implemented, I've been in talks with Framingham who

060has a very similar, you know, community to us. They do bus registration with fees associated. Um, so she's Angela over there has been a huge resource for me to try and implement that here. That is something I want to do. >> I appreciate that response. I I guess a follow-up question to that. Do you see that as like a policy change that we would have to enact from the school committee's perspective >> or is that more administrative? >> That's a great question. >> You can get back to me [laughter] on that one. >> Probably a question for you to answer for her and not answer you. [laughter] >> If I mean if I could I guess just think out loud on that one. I would lean towards >> administrative. >> No, because I think that

061our policy may be that we want to provide busing transportation for students at no cost. Maybe that's the policy, but the procedure, >> but how they do it >> is on them >> is up to them. And if this is a tool that makes things more manageable and it sounds like it would be nice to be able to know where you're expected to be to pick people up, um, so be it. But that is I think a decision would be a decision for them to work out in >> my view anyway. >> Yeah, I would agree. Okay, thanks. >> Kudos to you for taking all this on. I know it's definitely a very challenging area with literally moving pieces all the time. I totally appreciate that. We're about to talk shortly about student discipline. We've

062in the past had requests for bus monitors. I'd just be curious from your sense in terms of if there's a big need for that. Just kind of any feedback. I would think discipline wise they're dealing primarily with the building administrator, but I'm sure a lot maybe comes through you. I'm just curious. >> Yeah, the bus conduct forms definitely come through myself and vendetti and we share those with the building principles. >> Um speaking with families if we need to. >> Um there is a three strike, you know, process to having a student ride the bus if they're acting up. >> Um I think that's a work in progress. >> Um monitors would definitely help. >> I don't know if they're critical, >> but it would be nice. Sure. >> Um, from a budget standpoint, I

063can't say that it's something I would push for. Would >> you rather five more driver? You know, whatever. Right. Yeah. Okay. Just curious. Thank you. >> Hiring them is the problem. >> Yes. >> To get folks to Well, it's hard to get folks to >> ride a bus for an hour in the morning and ride a bus. Even our even, you know, our support staff. >> Yeah. We've put the message out. >> It's curious. It's >> It doesn't sound fun to get on a bus with 75 kids. >> I've done it. Yeah, >> more than once a year. [laughter] >> I don't know if you want to do that every day. >> I just were curious about the need, that's all. >> Yeah. No, I do try and get out there and I've ridden a

064couple of buses and I've ridden in some vans to try and see what the roots look like and and put things together. Um, it's nice, >> but I would stand by it's not >> Yep. >> critical. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you very much for coming in. This is a great presentation. Um just a kind of a few questions. >> If you're looking for some of the vendor provided um the collaborative and the p collaborative schools and the private schools you broke it down into the students the sped out of district you uh through Nick's transportation in Bayate um and the rates is that just uh a one student cost for each one of those or is this for for multiples >> multiple runs? >> Let's see. Just out of curiosity, just

065because again, the other two you broke down with student totals. >> So they're all per student. >> Okay. Yeah. >> So then that's just an anticipated approximate annual cost there. So correct. >> That could fluctuate as you said from, you know, when you look at the from the homeless situation and foster care situation. Obviously that could fluctuate >> a lot. Okay. >> It does. >> Yeah. It depends on on the location. M um then transitioning looking at kind of our our our Milford bus routes. Do we ever spot check our ridership to see where we are? So obviously a a school bus has x number of of seats. >> Um and I'm assum I'm assuming we try to maximize that through the Absolutely. Uh do we ever spot check? >> We do. Yes. So what

066I have learned though is a 77 passenger bus does not hold 77 people. >> Okay. >> Shocking. I know. [clears throat] >> Holds about 56 kids. Okay. [laughter] >> Um, so yes, we do the bus drivers keep track of how many kids are getting on and off. Um, and most of them because I've done their routes for so long, just kind of know who's coming and not coming. >> Um, but what I do with my Milford drivers is have them give me a list of kids that aren't showing up and and then I check in with Dale or Victor and and say, "Hey, is this kid actually riding the bus? Is this kid not riding the bus?" And then we'll pull them off the software so that we can actually put somebody else on the

067bus if necessary. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, so yeah, it can kind of >> it does fluctuate. >> Fluctuate. Yeah. >> Um, and we'll definitely have more kids on the bus now >> with the winter months. >> With the winter. Okay. All right. So, some of the the highest of the highs are obviously like almost 100% ridership. What kind of do you see as some of the low low ridership percentages? >> So, our high school runs typically don't have as many students. Mhm. >> Bus one, which is down by Depot Street, that will have 90% ridership. >> Okay. >> Um, but once you get out towards Medway, Hollist, north side of Milford, >> our ridership drops to 30 or 40%. >> Okay. >> So, >> all right. Good to know. >> I think that also

068falls in line with the community. >> That's an ignorant question. If we're like I'm thinking as your student goes through high school, maybe then they have access to a car. Are you supposed to submit that? Like I'm just thinking I probably never like communicated that. Shame on me. >> No, seriously. >> Right. So that would be your bus registration, right? You are supposed to tell the school. Got it. But it could change throughout the year, right, Lawrence? So you would Yeah. Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. So every now and then the elementary schools will get notices from parents. Oh, we're going to drive the kids. So then we'll pull them off the bus and we can add somebody else. >> Got it. Okay. >> No, it's good. Good point. Um, and then as we look at,

069you know, the buses and the and the ridership and our local routes, >> um, have we looked at or considered and we heard uh, Victor >> and Dale talk about ridership and or excuse me, abs absenteeism. So, how does that relate to our policy in the mileage from school? Is that something that >> we as a committee would look at? And then also, what's, you know, the biggest driver to us is going to be the cost impact? And that's and that's where I'm asking about the ridership part of it too. >> It's very connected. >> Yeah. >> Right. Like >> one and a half miles doesn't seem like a lot, but >> if it's one degree out >> Yeah. >> one and a half miles is a long way. >> 100%. Yep. That's why. So

070I don't expect like I guess more of the the expectation is is that something we would consider? Is that something we should consider? And then also again relating it to budgetary impacts, especially since we know we're doing contracts right now, >> you know, and I don't know what that number is as far as helpfulness. >> That might be something again going back to Dale and Victor and saying, well, of the interactions, how many of those students are are are chronically absent absent due to Ryder? >> Yeah. And I think >> this is this is and this is one of the ways that registration could help us. Um, so you're sensitive to it. >> Well, the worry that >> the worry I have with the registration um is we're asking families to register. >> What happens

071if they don't? >> Now we've constructed >> y >> bus routes for what we think is our ridership. But when we have a number of kids or families that haven't registered and then here comes day one, are we going to say, "No, sorry, you can't get on the bus cuz you didn't register." Um, that's one of my main concerns with that. It's it's um I think it works in other towns because there's a fee. >> Correct. I get if I want a bus, I know I have to register because I know I have to pay. Here we're providing a ride for everyone. >> Correct. Right. Um, >> well, not everyone. >> Well, everyone that falls out of in our area, right? >> And our area is smaller than what Desi actually requires. >> Okay. >>

072We're more generous. >> We are. Yes. Which is great. And we can >> um Desessie says two miles for under grade six. >> Wow. Okay. >> So, we don't follow we don't follow that that rule. >> Okay. But yes, Craig, I understand what your registration concerns are. Yes. >> Yeah. Yeah. I know there's again, but there's a lot of different parts and pieces and >> we certainly could look at what it would cost to >> bus everyone. Um but I I [laughter] >> Well, we bus approximately half at this point in time. >> Yep. Well, I know there is the bus everyone, but there are always those families that just will will bring their children to school via, you know, their home via >> and maybe maybe that's the registration piece, right? If you fall

073within >> the mileage and you want a bus, you have to register. >> That's interesting. >> Yeah. >> And then that's how we get around the ride. >> Yep. >> Versus everyone registering. >> Sounds good. I don't know. >> So, a certain radius. >> Yeah. I don't know. That was just complicated. >> That might have just worked a little bit. [laughter] [clears throat] >> Shifting gears to um the 70 70D drivers. Uh how you doing on staff on that? I know in the past it's been a there's been a struggle. It's been a lot of need for subs. >> Um knock on wood, I'm okay at the moment. Um I have drivers for all of the vehicles that I have. >> I would love some subs right now. I can pull from um our vocational

074for our elementary runs but not for high school or sacey runs because it falls on the same time frame of their days. >> Okay. >> Um but I'm doing okay. We're trying to hire. We had somebody come in. They just never come back. >> Okay. >> Um >> so that seems to be the story about monitors and drivers. Um but we're doing okay right now. My drivers um are fantastic. They know the job inside and out and they have taught me more than I could have ever hoped for in the last six months. >> Um from cleaning off buses and in the process of doing that with snow and so >> sure >> we were out here at 6:00 this morning making sure that it was ready to go and >> um >> but they're

075great. >> Um >> with the 7D, do we offer training assistance? >> We do offer up to pay for all of their training. Um, and we offer trainings throughout the year to con, you know, to bring them up to speed for their eight hours that they're required. Okay. >> Um, if you're over 70, which some of my drivers are, you have to do that every six months. >> Okay. >> So, it is time, you know, >> it is time um, >> whatever that Thank you. >> Um, >> and they have to have a physical every six months. So, it's a lot for somebody who's retired and it's a split shift. So, >> right. I'm even open to the idea of of having somebody work just the morning or just the afternoon along with crossing guards

076too because that's under my my you know supervision. >> Um because somebody might be an early riser and somebody might want to do something in the afternoon. Um so I've even put that out there and I've talked to the uh senior center and and trying in the library. So just trying to put the word out. >> Any traction on that? >> No. [laughter] >> I think it's a great idea but yeah just kind of curious. We did hire a new crossing guard, but you know, >> so that's good. >> Good. [laughter] >> Very good. Um, >> almost a monitor. >> Yeah. >> Almost didn't come back. >> Exactly. >> And switching over fleet maintenance. I know you put uh the cost in there. How do you think we're doing in that? Is it as expected?

077Obviously, you're you're newer to the job. >> Um, we have our seven vans. Obviously, they're on the roads a lot running around. So, just kind of curious on >> it. Feels like something's always at the auto body shop every week. >> Um, buses too. I don't know um where that stands. I've started to pull up the older spreadsheets to see what buses have that's where the fleet management kind of came into play was to see how many buses we were actually doing work on over and over and over and deciding when it's time to be done with a bus or a van and then >> purchasing a new one or leasing a new one. Um, so I don't really know yet. >> Okay. >> But I am trying to wrap my head around that. >>

078No problem. And then last question. Uh, budget-wise and maybe looking over when like how we doing on our overall budget. You know, last year we we had to move some money >> fully probably expected again, but just out of kind of the globally how we're doing on our transportation budget and our foresight for it. >> Okay. Um, I was going to update on on the budget report. >> All right. Then that's fine. can share. Um the right [laughter] now >> I'm ahead of the game. >> Ahead. Always ahead of the game. >> Thank you. >> Right now it's break even with the circuit breaker um >> reimbursement. But >> we do have some um students that's waiting to go out of district. So each students look at the cost. Yeah. It's almost as high as

079their tuition far away. >> So um it it can go up. >> Yeah. So um >> yeah because the circuit breaker would apply to any of the obviously the sped out of district placements. Does it apply to private schools a collaborative any of those too? >> Circuit breaker is con is um taking into consider both tuition and the transportation. >> Okay. Um so if a student's cost is higher than the four times of um per pupil cost um then that overage part is um reimbured by to us by 75%. >> Okay. >> Um if the state has the budget if not they're going to cut it. last year was 47% >> uh for transportation, but later they they gave us a supplemental to bring up back to 75%. So, it's it's um depending on the

080state budget, but they're they're shooting for 70% of that overage. >> And can you repeat that again? It's it if they four times over >> four times over the average state uh average state um pupil cost. Okay. Excellent. Hope >> so. It's about 53,000 right now. The uh the threshold is about 53 55,000 right now. So any cost if you combine tuition and the transportation together and the the total cost >> over >> minus that four times of approval cost and then that is your >> eligible cost and then 75% of that is our reimbursement. >> Excellent. But we don't know that until the end of the year. Correct. And the reimbursement doesn't come till >> the reimbursement is from last year. Basically it's a true it's a delayed revenue. >> Delayed. Yeah. Okay. No

081problem. Well, great. >> Thank you, and thank you, Lauren. Appreciate it. >> We'll [laughter] see. >> Yeah. Appreciate the presentation and and all the answers. So, >> yeah, I I mean, the thing about transportation is we have to get these kids to school. So, it's >> Yeah, >> it's one of the, you know, fascinating aspects of the budget. [laughter] >> Exactly. That's why I have a lot of questions. >> You You totally can. And I'll >> And we have a lot work done on the bid itself. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we're out to bid this year. >> Yeah. What's this contract status? >> Um, >> next we met with uh >> we had an open meeting, right? >> I don't I don't What do you call that meeting? We had >> um pre- bid meeting.

082>> Pre-bid meeting. >> So now we're waiting for the bids to come in. >> Yes. >> At this point. >> Yes. >> Um our pre-bid meeting though, we had three vendors or four? >> We have three companies. One is a um like a vehicle supplier. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> And two um yeah our current vendor and another potential >> potential vendor. They ask a lot of questions. >> Yep. Great. >> So >> very good. Thank you. >> So I walked right into that one too. [laughter] >> Perfect timing. >> Yes. >> Thank you, Matt. Um, so I have more of a statement than a question. >> Okay. >> In the past, in the recent past, um, I've been a part of several conversations with town council, um, to the point of your last slide. Why

083does Wil own buses and vans? And I guess what I would highly recommend >> is that you schedule some time to talk with town council. And Craig, I don't know if you've ever been a part of those conversations. Mhm. >> Um then I' I'd recommend you guys both sit down with town council because the liability of owning a van if something happens could could wipe out 30 years of um cost benefits of of having them in the house. Um I don't want to speak for him because I'll never articulate it as well as anywhere near what he will, but it it's it's very very very eye opening. >> Okay. I think we should bring probably when and Carrie in on that too. >> Yeah, but go ahead. >> We may say the same thing. >>

084What's that? >> I said we may be about to say the same thing. >> Um >> yeah, >> we may have been part of the same conversation. >> In line Yeah, in line with that. Um I in a discussion with Fincom last year in a formal meeting of our capital plan gave probably the closest thing to a promise I'll ever give in this position to anybody. um which was that we were going to finally figure out a way to answer their question as to what it costs us per day to run one of those vans that we own because every year we go there on the capital plan and we say we need to buy a passenger van and they say how is this cheaper than bringing in a vendor and we've always I guess

085heard and and been told the answer is it is and looking at this at $120 per day for you know just the top line it has to be But when it comes to budget planning, it has to be isn't an answer that we can give them. So, um the good news is I'm not really asking for anything right now. We don't meet with them until April to talk about this again. But I um I did tell them that we would work um really hard this year >> to try to get some ballpark of what it costs because if you take that number and you couple it with what John is talking about in terms of the insurance piece, >> that's the piece that I think we're looking at in terms of whether or not they're

086going to continue to support our own internal band. Okay, >> just as a u something to add to your list. Unfortunately, I don't like doing that to people, but um something to add there if you could uh would be very very much appreciated. >> I again I said I'm not going to speak for town council, but part of it is the liability in in terms of actually a dollar amount that a municipality has versus that of a private vendor um is really just staggering the the difference. So, um, I'll just trust that you guys will reach out to town council and make an >> an appointment. >> We will. >> I know he'd welcome the conversation. >> Um, if you look at the next slide, >> right? >> Mhm. >> Um, >> I don't know

087if that's that. Do you need clearer than that? >> Um, sorry, I may have misread this. I I read MPS bed as being a specific vehicle. Are those the >> those are the vans? >> Minivans, >> right? Those are the >> those are the small vans. >> So, basically, it cost us $474 a week to run >> versus 120 a day >> per kid. >> Okay. >> This is only staff, right? >> 364, right? But yeah, it doesn't, I guess, count maintenance and then it doesn't include the maintenance on the vans, but I can come up with a >> figure cost. Yeah, we can add in a mileage cost. >> This is closer than Yeah, I thought that was a specific like there's a specific van that has an access >> that's about an average.

088>> So, if we had to but if we had to run >> you could get something closer >> distance >> if Well, if we had to if we had to hire a a company to do these runs. Sure. >> They charge us per student, >> right? >> And they charge us some >> we do >> fund. I don't know what it would be. run a Milford student through a vendor because we're out of space and in district >> and they need in district and they needed more support than we could provide >> and that came out to 6661 a day. >> Okay, >> so it's a good start. Yeah, we could dial in just a little more about the van and that stuff, but otherwise something like that should be more than enough I think

089in terms of the financial discussion when we get to April. >> Yeah, we can definitely >> Thank you. Any other transportation thoughts? >> No. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> Excellent. >> Thank you. >> Oh, that's not mine. >> I appreciate it. Thank you. >> All right. So, we can move on now to the report of the superintendent. >> Um, >> when you're ready. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, so in your agenda, you have two links. All right. I'm just going to I'm going to point you to the first link. All right, the first link, if you click on that, that's the recent um Desi data that was released. Uh this is from this is from the data that we're reporting. Um it has everything you want to know about um you

090know, suspensions, the number of kids that are disciplined in school, out of school, kids that were emergency removed, so on and so forth. Um, you can cut the data any way that you want. Um, if you look at the top where it says offense, you can kind of scroll through and and go through different offenses if that's what you want to do. Um, I would say that um, this data is important data for us to to look at um, and reflect on. It's not something that it's not something that we're we're going to look at and say, "Wow, we decreased however many discipline referrals." Um I think that whether we have a um discipline is like tracking discipline data is is a very tricky um I don't know what the right word is. It's it's

091tricky to do because in theory you want to um lower the amount of discipline referrals that you have. However, you don't want to um you don't want to overlook things either. So, as things come up, obviously students are disciplined. Um I think it gets it gets tricky when we're talking about um we're going to talk about K2 in a minute. Um you have to take a lot of other factors into it. So, as an example, our teachers were telling us that they were feeling like at the K2 level, uh, the kids behaviors were were ramping up, right? And and kids, um, they were seeing behaviors that they didn't necessarily see from year to year. So, this might be a good um a good place to start with with teachers to say, "Hey, here's where here's

092where our old data was. This is where our new data is. it's not very different or maybe it is very different. So what kind of changes would we have to make? I hope I'm being clear. Um so we would never take this and say okay we went down 35% in this area. Um so it's just something that we use to reflect on um and go from there. Does anybody have questions on how to read it? Okay, the next link that you have uh this is an update that uh I had made about the K2 classroom it's a long title sorry classroom safety procedures task force that we created. Um, this came out of some concerns that our that our faculty and staff were having at Memorial in Brookside. Um, so we put together a task

093force. Um, the goal of that was to ensure that student the goal of how I say of that it's it's ongoing. So the goal of this task force is to ensure that student and staff safety is the primary focus of everybody and then we're looking at the procedures to make sure that um the way that we're working with students at Memorial is the same as the way that we're working with students at Brookside. Um on this task force there's district administrators, school administrators, classroom teachers, support staff, special educators. We included TAs and BAS as well. Um, we met on the the half a days. I thought I think I updated you on the the first one that we met in December. That was a half a day. We met for the whole second half of

094the half a day. We just had another one on Friday. Uh, that was about an hour and a half. Um, we we we had assigned our school principles to do some work in between. So we had a basically an overview of the work that they did. Um the themes that we were were getting based on this work um is that there there's a need for consistent incident reporting in an accessible data system. Right now a lot of the the discipline data or the student behavior data is being taken on um paper. Then from year to year we lose track of it. Right? where at the I would say at the secondary level we do a very good job of putting everything into Aspen. So we're working on getting our K2 in our actually K5 information.

095We we do a pretty decent job at at Woodland also, but getting all of that data into Aspen um so that we have a continuous record of what's going on. Uh there's this need of um communication in common language. Um, an example would be a support call versus a crisis call. Um, so we have to make sure that we're using the same terms uh within our classrooms, but also the same terms between buildings so we understand um what we're really talking about. Um, one thing that we also talked about was this uh a debriefing protocol. So, a lot of times what we heard was um students are in a crisis. Um they're removed from the classroom, they're stabilized, and then they're brought back to class with no real followup with the teacher. So, the teacher's

096like, "What's going on here? Um why is this kid back?" And nobody's really followed up. So making sure that there's a debriefing that happens every time um with what happened and and just understanding and then also I think that's another piece that was missing was the administration didn't actually understand um because they didn't debrief how it got to where it got to. So, um making sure that that all becomes formalized and then making sure our behavioral expectations um are understood, they're modeled. Uh the kids understand how they're supposed to how they're supposed to behave from um the cafeteria to recess to the classroom to the hallways. Uh all those things are reinforced and reinforced in different uh native languages as well. and then creating clear thresholds um with logical consequences. Uh that was something that

097our teachers uh needed to see. So we're working on that too. Uh I'm on slide seven now. If you look at slide seven and slide eight, this is um some of the data that the principles provided. Uh you could see in both instances uh there's a positive trend. um as I I think that we as administrators sort of expect to see you're talking about kindergarten, first grade, second grade kids, they're coming into a new school in a new environment. They're coming off a summer where they didn't have a lot of expectations put on them or maybe they're coming into a country or they're experiencing school for the first time and not exactly understanding um what's expected of them. Um I think that's a lot of where we saw the incidents at the beginning of the

098year. You could see that there they've been decreasing um for a number of reasons. I think kids have in some cases we have some success stories where um kids are understanding where they need to be. In other cases, um perhaps kids weren't on IEPs and they they were identified with a disability and then got moved into a different program, an appropriate program where they needed to be. So, um there's a lot of different reasons in here as to why um we're seeing the decrease. But I also think it's important to note that when you're looking at at this data, you're looking at the number of students that are involved. Um, and it's, you know, about a dozen kids at the at each school. So, um, they aren't necessarily the same. So, when you look at

099at Memorial, for example, it says 13 kids and 12 kids and 12 kids. It's not the same 13 12 kids or whatever. There might be a total of 30 kids involved here, but um, you get the point, I guess. Um, I think where we're we're at next is um our our long-term goals, right, is is hopefully by the end of this year, we're looking to adopt uh an SEAL curriculum across all of our K2 classrooms. That's standard. Um, I guess sort of like our math program or our literacy program. Having a common um SEAL program would is is critical I think to our success. Um providing comprehensive deescalation training for our staff uh during contractual hours. We do offer it. We offer it um beyond contractual hours. So it's really difficult for you know our

100our support staff and the teachers to to get to that. So, um trying to figure out a way to either pay them for their time or offer it during contractual time. Um establish a a schoolwide positive behavior program. If you remember a number of years ago, we had PBIS. Uh we sort of moved away from that. I it must have been right around um COVID when we did and it just never came back. So reestablishing that to ensure that all kids um know what's expected of them. Um develop a curriculum so that within the first six weeks uh all of our kids are feeling like they're part of the community. Um we're not just hitting the gas right away with with math and literacy. Uh but really community building so everyone feels like they're they're

101part of the classroom. And then finally in uh revise some of the procedures that we have in place um in ensuring that what is in place at Brookside is in place at Memorial uh and then it carries up through uh Memorial as well. Um yeah, I think uh I I think overall um in the the two meetings that we've had with the task force, I think we're gaining some some traction. Um, we've had to get through some challenging conversations. Uh, but I think that we're headed in the right direction. Um, I wish that we had more time um to work with work handinhand with classroom teachers. Um, sort of like we saw in the fishbowl classroom at the beginning. Uh, I think that that having having the ability to to talk with with teachers through

102some of like I don't know like a tabletop discussion about if this happens, what should we do? Um, I think that would be that would help us immensely. Um, and it would be more proactive [snorts] instead of being reactive in the um in the moment. So, I'm pleased with the direction we're going and and I'm looking forward to continuing the conversations with with the union and uh the TAs and the BAS. And I think that uh getting everybody on the the same page is essential to all of our success. So, I don't know if anybody had any questions about that. >> Say it sounds like a big undertaking amongst a lot of other big undertakings. So, thanks. >> Thank you. Thank you, Greg, for presenting on this. Obviously, there's a lot a lot of moving

103parts and pieces. Um, >> when you're going back to slide seven and eight in the support call. >> Yeah. >> Then just before that, there was just the the definition in starting to use the, you know, standardized terminology between support call versus crisis call within what you have in slide seven and eight. Is that just more that's all-encompassing right now? But we haven't really >> broken it down. >> No. And and and to be clear, like a support call, >> a support call would be there's one teacher in the classroom or maybe even two adults in the classroom. They need somebody else to come in and and help with this one student um who's not exactly following directions and get this student on board. They think that with a support call um it's not come

104with this entire team. It's send one person. I think the one person can get this kid going to where that they need to be to be successful in the class. A crisis call on the other hand is we need more than one person down there. We need you quick. Um for whatever reason that um a student is disregulated and um it's it's escalating quickly. >> Correct. Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I'm well aware of that and that's why I just try to kind of understand what supports we can put in place and when that support call or crisis call comes in there we we have a walkie-talkie system to communicate. So so anybody available is is able to kind of >> as long as they're not already tied up in other situations training like that.

105Yeah, >> we do. And um that was one of the things that we also identified is that we have multiple ways of communicating with um crisis calls or crisis teams. >> Um and that's not effective either. Like it we need the one way to do it. We don't need like this teacher is expecting to get on a text. Correct. >> This one over here is expecting the um two-way radio. This one's expecting to pick up the phone. Um and so one of the thing one of the other things that we we're doing as a district is looking at an app. Um I think that also came out of um the swatting call at the high school where we need one quick way to communicate with people that everybody expects. Um so that's something that we've

106been looking at as our um district response team. >> Yeah. And then yeah, just going back to the CPI training, I know um through the labor and management meetings, there was a big discrepancy between >> Memorial and Brookside and the number of staff that are CPI trained by by large numbers, double- digit numbers. So yeah, I think that's going to be something that we as this committee going to have to look at ways of trying to >> even that out and in and how we from the budget side of it need to be there because again from the labor management side we [snorts] >> I heard you know the fact that you know Memorial has I'm just going to spitball numbers like you know 50% of their staff whereas Brookside only had 25% of their

107staff right so it was definitely a big discrepancy in in that training which as you're seeing by the numbers of Brookside um is needed. So >> I I think I'd be remiss if I didn't say this with budget season coming up. Um I also think one of the um one of the ways where we don't support staff is we don't provide the training to um BAS and TAs before they actually go in the classroom. Right? We're we're short staffed with BAS and TAS. Um, so when [clears throat] they come in and we get them signed up, we're eager to get them in the classroom, but we have to realize we need to, you know, take a week, slow it down, get get folks acclimated, help them understand uh the expectations, help them understand what they

108might see in a classroom and how they can um be successful in the classroom. We just don't do it. We expect the teacher to do it. um it's hard for the teacher to do it because the teacher's teaching, right? So, how do they provide training on the fly? So, I think that's something that moving forward we need to figure out a way to um get better at. >> Okay, that' be yeah part of the I guess one of the long-term goals. >> Yeah. >> Okay, >> sounds good. Thank you. >> Yep. Thank you. >> Anything else on the topic? [clears throat] All right. Thank you for that. I think that's that's all you have, right? >> That's it. Yes. >> All right. So, we'll move on to the report of the interimm assistant superintendent for

109teaching and learning. >> All right. I just have a quick um literacy update for you um now that we're halfway through the school year um and where we are in our expedentiary learning adoption at the elementary level. Um, so two numbers that I think are really exciting to highlight is that we are seeing 96% of our classrooms engaging with texts that are grade level appropriate, complex, culturally relevant, and worthy of student time. We're also seeing 80% of our classroom teachers asking and using guiding stu uh guiding students through textbased questions that progress from literal to deeper intentional thinking, which is aligned to grade level standards centered on the grade level appropriate texts. So, those are two key um pieces and data points that we look for when we walk into classrooms with a learning walk

110with this new adoption. Um and the fact that those numbers are so strong um halfway through the school year with a new HQIM um is is important to see and is exciting to see. Um we knew that this part of this adoption was about getting high quality texts in the hands of teacher uh students. Um and so we're seeing that consistently. I would say you're not going to see 100% because when you walk into a classroom on paper, it might say that they're, you know, starting their literacy block, but they're actually transitioning back from art and they're doing a um quick brain break um before they jump in. And so that's where you're never going to really see a 100% on these measures. And so a percent of 96 um percent is really really strong.

111Um, we're continuing to support our teachers during contractual time through unit planning, lesson planning, which is really centered again on that text, um, and on the assessment. I was actually at the contractual time yesterday at Brookside, um, where teachers were working in grade level teams to analyze the end of modular assessment and then identify key activities in the different lessons and how they connected to the modular assessment. It was a great conversation and it really focused on the questions that teachers had about the lessons while also staying grounded in the text of the modulars and the units. And so the fact that they're able to get to this level of assessments um again only halfway through year one of implementation um is a huge shout out to the work that the teachers are doing but

112also Carol's leadership. Um we're looking forward to our winter visit from our consultant at TNTP. Um they were supposed to come next week. um we actually shifted it to the week before February vacation just because of their flying in in the pending um snowstorm. So this way we plan ahead instead of getting caught um at the last minute. Um but what they'll do is they'll do another round of learning walk data at our elementary schools um and work with our building leadership around our implementation with Fidelity. Um it'll be really nice to get an outside perspective of how they are seeing our implementation going and give us some advice on kind of next steps that we can take. Um, so a lot of great work is happening in literacy. Um, and we're starting to see

113that result in terms of the data from the learning walks and we'll have another round of that learning walk data shortly. >> Any questions or comments there? >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you for that update. Okay. Okay. So, we'll move on to the report of the school business administrator next. >> Okay. Um, so you opened [clears throat] up the FY 26 budget update um spreadsheet. Um, uh, the the balance is um, looking okay. And um like I said um previously transportation cost that right now is um if you add up line that 3300 line um um add up this with uh the offset transportation. So it's about break even right now. Um but if you look at the tuition lines um there are about some like a million balance there uh because um

114some students probably through they stayed in the district through some programming or they moved away. So um that's good news. Um but right now we have about seven students in referral. Um one is a really big ticket item. So which means they can go out anytime. Um it's a long process. That's why maybe they are planning at the beginning of the year, but uh with this long process with parents consent and visiting of programs. Um now we're at the half halfway done and there are seven still uh stay in our district. Um so it's about 700 for the year um budgeted but uh right now if you proate the dates were like obligated to half of the cost. Um so but that said we have um [snorts] we have three months until April 1. So

115hope like we we don't know if there's any movings um like um severe needs students. So, we cannot say um for sure yet, but um we just hope at the end of the third quarter we can um reallocate some of the funds to support transportation and um the maintenance of the building and equipments. Um this year we have some um pipe burst issues. So, um the the balance is um we're working we're working with Carlos um to have a plan to go through this year, but um I think potentially we will need to relocate some of the funds to support the building. Any questions about the 26 budget? >> Maybe just a followup and it's probably more for Craig. It just came up during labor and management this week. Just could Carlos prioritize potentially any

116drafty? I'm just looking at the heating number. >> We um >> I wrote you already did that. >> I I wrote all the things down and he addressed them all today. >> Perfect. Thank you. It's great. Thanks. >> Okay. Um about the 27 budget, um I don't have any attachments. You can send everybody the very preliminary budget. Um I ask you not to look at the numbers right now because we are still work on it. Um because LA since last conversation with the principles and the department heads um it has been about two months. So I have to go back and get the accurate numbers and um just a refresher how to read those um in if you have chance to look at the attachment there's a summary sheet uh listed by um function um

117centers and then you can see um the level service percentage and uh what's the percentage after we add all the new new initiatives and you can see the percentage um by levels of priorities. Um and then there's spreadsheets um by school, by department. You can see their increases. And then um we have the new initiatives um breakdown by priorities and the personnel initiatives. And also if you are curious about any lie items you can go to the justification sheet to see what's the composition of that of what they ask. Um so but the the numbers you can you um you can see some of the placeholders still there. For example, our first meeting is on the 28th. Um our transportation bid is opening on that same day in the morning. So I'll probably update that

118before I go to that meeting. Um and then on the transportation bit we have the two bits with one with camera and one without camera. So this is a discussion um are we going which one are we moving forward um yeah this kind of things placeholders and of course in the negotiation um with unions. So yeah the numbers are um preliminary but um we have done a lot of work like this year I I feel like we put a lot of um strategic thinking and innovative initiatives um that's why a lot more work need to be done like we have to move around our meetings to have to meet and like >> talk to principles and give feedbacks and then like back and forth back and forth many times and and tomorrow we have a

119a leadership meeting and we're going to share the budget with them and then continue to >> work with them. >> Yes, >> question. All right. >> Yeah, just a quick question. So, yeah, obviously our first meeting is next Wednesday, so we're ready to go. You know, we have we appreciate the packet. Obviously, as you said, there might be some changes number-wise in there, but we're we're ready to go for next Wednesday. Then we can plan on next Wednesday and Thursday. >> Yes. Right. >> We're planning on Wednesday and we have it on the books for Thursday as well. I'm sure Wednesday will decide if we need that. >> Right. Exactly. At least that. >> We'll post for both. >> All right. >> I'm sorry. I forgot to mention that um in your in your uh

120package I still need to audit the the um sta staffing plan. >> Um I need I need the numbers to be accurate because um it also the baseline of the negotiation salaries like how what's 1% means what one day means for for a whole teachers union. Um also u I we have the stipent details um in the work too. So hopefully Wednesday we can see uh their justifications and then like hours worked for each statement and also um we try to categorize all the pri priorities by um goals by district goals. So um it's easier for discussion. Um and also we will identify proposals um which proposal are due to compliance. So those are will be included too. I believe the chapter 70 number you just you carried last year's over it's very obviously it's

121very early has there been any level of of numbers coming forward I haven't looked myself either so okay >> no worries >> it's always the best process in my opinion >> it's efficient >> it's very efficient >> any other questions on the uh FY27 budget Okay. Very good. All right. So, we're all set when >> Oh, yeah. We're set. >> Thank you. >> Very good. Sorry. >> Just wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything. >> Um, okay. That brings us to the to the consent agenda tonight. So, we have five things um this time before I get started on the minutes. Does anybody have any questions or comments about the minutes from last meeting? I see none. All right. [clears throat] So, the consent agenda tonight is going to include the following. The approval

122of minutes from the January 8th, 2026 meeting. Approval of 11 warrants in the amount of 96,2344. Professional development in the amount of $7,22.14. Three gifts totaling $754. and the approval of grants that will total there's four in total and that is $87,129. Motion to approve. >> Motion by John. Second by >> Brendan. All in favor? >> Yes. >> Thank you. Future agenda items. Does anybody have anything they would like to add to the list that's not on the long-term plan? All good. >> Okay. All right. So, that's all we have lined up for uh our meeting tonight. So, we can end this open session. We do not have executive session, so all I need is a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn. Motion by Chris, second by Derek. All in favor? Unanimous. Thank you,

123everybody.