School Committee Meeting: October 9, 2025

001Anyways, if anybody's wants to record, please ask the permission of the school committee. We're starting tonight. Um, so the first on the agenda is a student representative, uh, Emily Jansen for an update. >> Hi. Um, for starters, nice to see everyone again. Um, even though Brendan, I saw you on my TV the other night. Um, congratulations on your Family Feud performance. >> Thank you. Um, but I would like to start by talking about some positives as we are kind of back into the swing of things at school. So, we actually just passed the halfway point of the first quarter already. So, progress reports are out and I believe the quarter ends at the end of October or so. Um, October is kind of a big month for us. So, we have pep rally and homecoming

002at the um on the last week of October. So, student council is kind of racing to get everything set up, including myself. And also the seniors are planning a haunted house fundraiser this year, which is something we used to do in the past. We haven't done the past few years, so we're kind of bringing it back. Um, the music department is hosting a trunk or treat on October 29th in the Stacy Bus Loop. So if you guys have kids and want to stop by, get some candy. And then right after, the orchestra is performing in their annual spooktacular Halloween concert at Memorial Hall. Um, for sports, the girls soccer and girls field hockey teams are taking the ferry to Martha's Vineyard this Saturday to take on the Vineyards and get in some good team bonding.

003Um, the homecoming football game is on on October 30th, which is actually a Thursday and we expect to see some teams reach the playoffs, but more on that next time. Um, next I would like to talk about some of the policy changes we implemented this school year. Um, first one's pretty basic. We switched from paper towels to hand dryers in the bathrooms. And we also opened up another set of bathrooms in the language hallway to help save time so students don't have to walk all the way across the school, which I have found very helpful. Um, next we switched to a new method of running Flex. So, for those of you who don't know, Flex is a free block that we have twice a week for mindfulness, extra study time, extra help. Um, but this

004year we implemented a new system to help flex become more controlled, so people are actually where they're supposed to be. And while it's still a work in progress progress, it's definitely been doing just that. Um, and then the biggest change we made this year was the new cell phone policy. So, as you may know, we have a new cell phone policy this year. So, students have to put their cell phones in a cell phone holder upon entering the classroom so they don't have it during class. And I actually asked some teachers and students to share some of their feedback. so I could share it with you. Um, one teacher said that they found there is more class participation than before and that the separation from the phones has made all the difference. >> Another teacher

005said that they see students interacting with each other more and with the teacher more, which is something they really value and obviously students are just less distracted. And I got a very similar response from the students as well. So, one student said they find their classes to be more engaging and lively, um, including myself >> and that they have connected with their peers more and even made new friends. Um, another student said they find themselves not using their phones as much during lunch, which is when we can use them, but they're just they just don't feel as addicted to it. Um, so all good things in that area. And then lastly, just some concerns bubbling around the school right now. The only major one is really regarding technology. We've had some issues with what's blocked

006and also some Wi-Fi problems the past few days. But it seems like those are already being taken care of and addressed. So other than that, I have nothing else to report. >> Great. >> Thank you. Uh do we have any questions? Brendan, >> can you shed some light on the technology piece? Like in terms of like what's blocked like um is it like tools that you need for >> Yeah. So, I think the original intent was that we just block things that students shouldn't be looking at. But I think there's some things um some students have complained about especially YouTube videos being completely blocked even if they're educational. Um even if it's like videos that teachers post for students to watch and then they're blocked on Chromebooks and stuff. Got it. And also just like

007images when you um go on Google and look look up an image of an apple or something and then a lot of them are blocked for no reason. So just stuff like that. >> Okay. >> But it seems like it's being worked on right now. So >> nothing too bad. >> Thank you, >> Derek. >> Thank you, Chris. >> No questions, but thank you very much for coming in to present. It's always very insightful. >> Yeah, thanks for the update, especially on the cell phone policy. I think for all of us, we're very interested in that. Um >> uh so yeah, thank you. Thank you for your time today. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, Emily. >> All right. Anybody here for invitation to speak? >> No. All right. Announcements, correspondence, distributions. >> So, we

008have some new up um artwork behind you from Woodland Elementary School um from Miss Dart's grade three and grade four um students. The grade three work um is because students explored the concepts of warm and cool colors through a fall themed art project. They painted leaves using warm colors and created backgrounds with cool colors, enhancing their understanding of color theory. Students were also introduced to the crayon resist technique using oil pastels to outline their drawings and watercolors to paint over them, allowing the oil pastel lines to resist the paint and remain visible. In grade four, students revisited the differences between organic and geometric shapes and applied these knowledge by tracing real leaves using step-by-step drawing guides or working from observation. Students were given creative freedom in how to approach their artwork. They could incorporate ZTangle

009designs, patterns, make compositional choices, and select art materials based on their vision. This project encouraged artistic decision-making, creative expression, and a deep understanding of shape and design. So, we have some great fall um foliage behind us from the grade three and grade four students at Woodland. >> There it is. >> Thank you. Anything else? >> I have an announcement. Um just for the uh the folks watching on at home um I sent home in the newsletter I think it was last week. Um I'm looking to collect information from as many people in the community and families as I can and hoping to set up um one-on-one interviews um with community members and and families or u parents or guardians. Um, many people have taken me up on it. Uh, I am still looking for as

010many people as I can. I'm just I'm interested to hear um from the outside of what's going well and what we need to work on as a district. So, please email me or or call the office and I'll set up an appointment either uh face to face or we can talk on the phone or something like that. >> Thank you. Anything else? Great. Uh we're going to do the general chairperson update. So um I'm happy to uh introduce uh James from um Next Level. He's the OPM that the building committee has has uh chosen and the MSB has approved. So he is formerly our project manager for the new high school. So what we're going to do is actually turn over to him to give a kind of a quick update and um tell us

011where we're at, what he does, and um yeah, get some excitement going. >> Yeah. Thank you guys. Glad to be here. Nice meeting everyone. Um yesterday we had uh well let me say Monday we had the MSBA OPM panel review and uh we officially signed uh the contract at yesterday's uh school building committee and so Mike invited me here to share with the school committee as well. So this will be a little bit of a rehash of what think this this should also be a little bit of uh give you a sense of what we um talk about at the school building committee meetings. So um if you want to just go next slide. So but but but first off just to introduce myself and my team um you know I I'll be the project

012director. I'll be the dayto-day uh with them. You'll also see uh Sesh Batia as he'll be a project advisor on the project. he's has um you know uh three other core MSBA core projects ongoing and uh and I note that because the MSBA is an it's an incredibly comp well it's a complex process many steps and um and it's and it's some you know while it's somewhat steady it's does evolve and so it's just it's just nice to have like you know he's just like three steps ahead of us and oh what' you do here okay great and so you know it'll make us much more efficient when we when our project goes through at that point. Um and then and and if you want to just go to the next slide, thank you. Um

013what one of the things that uh that I think is is helpful is just to let you know my past experience. So at a prior firm, I was the project manager of the Woodland Elementary School uh project. So, um I know I knew a couple, you know, Patrick Holland was on the school building committee, Jonathan Bruce obviously was and so, uh it's very good to and Melissa and Craig was also there. So, it's good to see good to see a lot of familiar faces, uh almost 10 years later almost. Um, in terms of projects similar in size and scope to Milford High School, you know, I've worked on Greater Old Tech and I mentioned that it's a vocational school and especially with uh the idea of us considering um nine vocational programs into the into

014the new high school. uh River High School uh I mentioned because it is uh you guys the the potential design enrollment it's going to be quite large larger than what it is now if you know if we go 8 8 to 12 and you know and then just also including the vote. So um and then lastly uh I I put Agawam in there because it was also an addition renovation where they were keeping existing parts of their campus you know the uh the gym and the auditorium and you guys are one of the the few that have a pool. And so, um, a brief aside, you know, the MSBA is is is strict on what it funds and doesn't fund. And one of the lines that it doesn't cross is, uh, you know, they they

015try to focus solely on academics. They really do. Um, and, uh, and so, but if you wanted to include, you can include a pool as part of your project. So, you guys are grandfathered in, obviously, and we can make repairs to it and whatnot. And so, um, at any rate, uh, it's good stuff. Uh, next next slide. So, I just heard recently, I'm going to have to borrow it, but you know, it's, uh, the MSBA is a little bit of like a marathon. Um, and we, you know, you guys, I think, put in your statement of interest, uh, January of 2023. You got accepted in December of 2023. you're in an eligibility phase where uh you know that that lasted all the way until June of 2025 and and so and then now then the

016OPM process and so now we're here with me and uh and next step so we're at the part where it's like forming that's module one the eligibility period and module two if you want to go to the next slide as well that's a little more clear of what's completed and what's ongoing and uh So our next step is is now to to uh procure the designer for the project and um and then after that we'll have the feasibility study that's going to be about a 20-month process uh starting from now. We anticipate it to be um done around uh spring of 2027 and then we will it'll get approved by the MS well you know it'll be get reviewed and approved by the MSBA and then we will then continue on with the the um

017rest of the design and then bidding and construction and you know if all things goes well we're looking for uh you know fall of 2030 2020, sorry, 2029. Thank you very much. Um, and yeah, so next slide, please. So, I'm going to take a few moments to go over the next steps of and and next steps in our process is is procuring the designer. Um it is a little bit different from the OPM selection because now you have me on board and the OPM selection was primarily um on the district. You know you got you went out and procured us and the MSBA did a review but you know ultimately it was a they they uh approved the selection. Designer selection is a little bit different um or a lot that where in in public

018procurement the designer is is typically has to go in front of the Massachusetts designer selection board for and to to be uh selected. um the Massachusett uh the MSBA has chosen to have their own designer selection panel and they've gotten they've gone and they've gotten um they were granted that and um so it's just uh kind of like a subset I guess but um it is a you can go to next slide actually thank you um yeah and there we go and um next slide it is made up of it's typically made up of 13 members Although when you go to their website, there's 18 listed there, but I think they have it's pretty much alternates. And so it's made up of 13 members on their side and then three members on our side on

019the district side. And those members is one shall be representative of the school committee, one of the superintendent or his design, and then one by the CEO of the town or their designate. And that could be either in this in this area, Rick or Mike Walsh, you know, select board or uh or the town administrator. So, um, yep. Next slide. And that's that's the list of who the other 18 members are, you know, and I think some of them are alternates, but many are you, you know, many are MSBA and um and they and they also list their, you know, like ones like Rachel is a professional engineer. you'll have registered architects, the um uh building trades council designate. Um the construction management I believe is associated general contractors is there. So just to give

020you a flavor of who's on this board. Um next slide please. Yeah. So the process is you know we have to give uh public notice just like we do for typical procurement you know and it's going to the central register and and then it goes out to everyone. the the designers are all have also have to have a master publisher uh with the state and um the all of the architects that would be applying for this this is part for the course next slide um typically I'll just go into that you know the so you know u go next slide or we're just going to go yeah there we Um, well, so we're going to I'm I am in the process of writing the RFS. It will get reviewed by the MSBA and I have

021a schedule at the end that I'll I'll go with all the de the details but the dates um uh the MSBA will review it. They'll kick it back to us. We'll put in the central register. We'll get submissions back. I will share those submissions with the school building committee and um once we get those we are allowed to review them but the MSBA is very specific we're not allowed to rank. So uh just just an interesting point. So you can review, you can make comments, but uh they do not want rankings >> and um the rankings will occur at the actual designer selection panel meeting in and we are aiming for January 12th for that first meeting. And so at that point um all the submissions will be reviewed by all 16 members, you know,

02213 of them, three of us. And then there'll be a basically a Q&A or comments after each one um where the district will be able to provide comments on um each submission and kind of uh give their give their um opinion, you know, of each of each submission, you know. Uh and so um and that then that'll be scored you know basically first will be three points second will be two third will be one and whoever has the highest scores amongst the say there's 10 submissions you know those will be ranked for the top three um two weeks later then there would be an interview and then so those three would interview and then we would um again have another at that at that proc at that meeting um the we would also have another

023Q&A and then finally there would be the other scoring and then we would we would have our designer at that point. So um yeah, next slide. Um next slide. Yeah, that's basically for the approval and there's the schedule as I just discussed. Uh you know the the October 30th is the RFS is due. We'd place the ad in the central register would come out November 19th and the applications would be due at December 17th and then we would turn around and and provide those to the MSBA and their selection panel on December 26th. Uh and by the way, all these dates are from the MSBA. So just to let you know the type of process that's getting run here. Um we we're we're along for the ride, you know, if you will. um in in

024some ways and so and then application review is the 13th and then the interviews should be at the next the following time they meet on the 27th. So I think um I don't I'd love to open up for if you have any questions on that >> questions >> or okay want to start with Brendan. >> Um >> seems like it's kind of like straightforward in a sense but it's good to see it. So I appreciate you reviewing it with us and um looking forward to the next few years we're going to do. >> Yeah. No, thank you. Thank you. >> Obviously, it's very professional. It's it's intense and it's and it's you're in the pipeline. So, that's right. We're working >> and and that's the goal is that we're just going to keep you moving

025to the MSBA states and keep the project moving throughout. >> I think if you go to our next slide, >> um we will be using and uh this is primarily for the school building committee. we can we can have a discussion there I think on who we'd like to invite if we want additional school committee meeting members you know to have access to this information or not you know but um so all those submissions for example we don't want to have them buried in your email or you know so you you they'd be able to come here and to review that and then um if you don't mind next slide and this is just an example of the agenda that just to give you a flavor of what we go out at meetings you know

026the we'll have the approval approve of the minutes, the approval of the warrant, our project budget is what it will be at that moment. This was our first meeting and then um so I'll I'll give a present a short presentation on the project budget and the invoices and how they're impacting the budget, things like that. And then any any um specific items uh and then and then yeah, that's and that's oh and then school committee update. We actually have one of those in there. And I mentioned that just like here. Um I want to start off uh with this PSA if you don't mind. Um this truly is, you know, it takes a village and it takes a village in terms of all of the committees in town that are that are going to be

027working on this. So while I am primarily working with the school building committee, that school building committee has Chris, has Mike, has Craig on this school committee. and um you know we we really relying on you to get them. The last thing we want is the school committee saying this is the first time we've heard about this or FINCOM or you know which has a representative on the school belling committee or the select board and so um so that that is our goal is that the message will go out. I can certainly provide periodic um updates as well as needed just like for you know not not just like today but you just like today. >> And uh and so I think that was it. That was the last slide. So thank you >> Chris.

028>> No questions. Thanks again. Sure. >> Heard I heard this last night. So >> yeah. >> Um looking forward to the process. But the um the date this this goes in front of town meetings. >> Yes. Share that with the committee because I found that kind of fascinating. >> Yes. Um okay. Yeah. The MSBA is an interesting process where they have the they have you go through feasibility where you have many options to look at. I'm sorry. We have three option three major options we're going to look at and this is all required by the MSBA. And uh one is it's they call it a code upgrade um where it's basically the building it's perfect as it is sizewise and we're just upgrading the plumbing electrical making it up to code um perfect size-wise and

029educational programwise. So it is really a theoretical um option but it's just a good baseline to see okay how bad is this building you know what do we need what is it what would it take if we if we didn't have to change it if it fit our programmatic needs perfectly we would still need to do x y and z from a physical standpoint then they then we have the option study addition renovations which there can be 1 to 10 you know whatever and then there's new construction which one to 10 and um it sounds like a lot but it's in reality ity. It's really necessary for such an expenditure if you want to look at it that way. And when we're asking so much of a town and its constituents, you know, they want

030to know that we looked under every rock and stone to see um you know, that that this is the truly the best option for us, you know, both educationally, financially, you know, all the above. >> So, the um uh what shocked me is that we see the map and where we're at. >> Yes. And um we're going to be voting at town meeting in May 2027. >> Yes. >> Right. Geez. Less than two years. >> That's right. >> So like that map looks like it's far away, but the the front part that we frontloaded is taking a lot longer. But now things start to really dial up. Andre when James told me, hey, we're voting on this in May 2027. I was like, wow, that's that's less than two years. That's actually pretty aggressive. So

031this is going to heat up pretty quick. Yes. >> But yeah, thank you, James. >> No, thank you. >> Any other questions? Well, thanks for coming. If there's anything we can do, please please let us know. >> Absolutely. I'll do. >> Thanks for coming. >> Thank you, James. It's coming. >> See, James. All right. Next item. Um, Milk Community use school board opening. So, we're going to do a vote tonight. Um, on the agenda, there's uh Melissa shared a folder that has the participants, sorry, the the applicants who applied and then u the director's um recommendation. Craig, do you want to say anything >> regarding what >> this appointment? >> Um, I do not have anything to say. >> Great. >> Um, has everybody read the the recommendation from Yes, >> the director and the

032director. Yeah. >> All right. Do I have a motion? >> Want want to make a motion? >> Yeah. So, I'd like to motion based on the uh recommendation of the uh community use director to um appoint Taylor, is it Bodio? Make sure Taylor Bodio to the community use board. >> Do a second. >> Second by Derek. >> Any discussion? >> I would like Yeah. And again, quick discussion. I appreciate the other two applicants. You know, certainly um you know, was nice to read through that, you know, what they had done in the past and why they would want to be on the board. So, appreciate their interest. >> Okay. Any other comments? >> I would also second the, you know, thanks for applying and wanting to be involved. There's also other boards in town that

033they can be involved from. So, if you're listening or anything, please look at see what's how you can get involved. >> Great, Derek. >> Good. >> Yeah. Yeah, I have say since I've been on school committee, I think this is one of the first times that we have actually multiple people who apply it. So, I think this is fantastic. So, the the program is growing and I thank everybody for being interested. Um, all right. So, um, any other discussion? No. All in favor? Motion passes. It's unanimous. Congratulations, Taylor. All right. So, report of the superintendent of schools. Uh, thank you, Michael. I I actually I wanted to have more of a discussion around ebikes. Um, for those of you that aren't aware, um, just last week, uh, we had three students, one on Wednesday, one

034on Thursday, one on Friday, involved in a ebike car accident. Um so three days in a row before that um numerous incidents with um ebikes, cars, pedestrians. Um and so it's it I've talked to the chief about it. I've talked to our um school resources officers about it. Uh and we currently do not have any language in our handbooks regarding this. We don't have any policies regarding um ebikes. Um but it is becoming a a safety hazard around town. Um what I can say is that during the school hours, ebikes do not seem to be a problem. Um and they don't seem to be a problem um on school grounds. um I guess during the time that school is in session, but uh I haven't heard anything about coming to school on school grounds and

035leaving school grounds. Um so it seems to be later in the evening, uh kids are coming back to school and riding around on on school property and other properties around town. But then also um students or I don't want to say I don't want to just say students people that are using ebikes um it's my understanding my observation and my understanding from um talking with the chief that they're not following the rules of the road. Um, one thing that we, the chief and I have talked about is getting some education for our students and bring police officer in um to run just a um a forum I guess for I think we did one for parents already at Woodland um having other forums for parents around in our schools but then also having um sessions

036for our students uh in assembly form. Um, but I think then also breakout sessions if need be. Uh, we already have I believe we had one at Woodland already. Um, but as I talked to the chief, I want to get I want to get them in every school and I want to get them as quickly as possible into every school so that at least we can start with some education for all of our our students. Um, but I also wanted to hear from all of you and see if any of you had suggestions on um, where you think we need to go as a school system regarding ebikes. So, I I'm going to open it up to anybody on the committee. >> Brandon, >> I guess my first comment and question would be, are you

037aware of any other school districts that have a policy that we should implement? >> Yeah. or that's even effective to implement because I mean having a policy is one thing but you know if there's no one there to enforce the policy or how do you enforce it it's not really much more than just a piece of paper. Um I think the education piece is incredibly important. Um actually on the youth center agenda for next week we are also addressing this as well to reinforce it at the after school program. >> So hopefully they see it once in school and then once again or hopefully a couple times um at the youth center as well. Um, as someone who goes out and runs on a regular basis on the roads, um, I can tell you that

038anyone is a is a hazard u when they're not paying attention. That's both >> uh pedestrians, people on ebikes and cars. Um, if you look around town, if you're sitting on a traffic light, just watch. People have their heads down. They are on their phone. So I think it's actually a secondary part where the police department needs to kind of do some other enforcement as well of drivers. I think there's a another component to all this. But I mean at the end of the day I mean you have to be responsible for yourself. I assume when I run no car can see me. I really do because >> I just do not trust people at this point to make good decisions and I'd rather protect myself than assume that someone is out there protecting me.

039Um, and I think that's really hard to instill on, you know, kids who don't quite understand some of the consequences that are out there. But I think the, you know, the educational piece is really important. Um, but on the other hand too, I think these ebikes are potentially a really good solution for us where we have some kids who are two miles away from the high school where we have to walk every day and this is a great solution to get them here efficiently and effectively to help drive our their int attendance and their success in our in our school. So, >> um, I think long-term planning like if I could wave a magic wand, uh, we would actually talk with the highway department too. How do we build our streets and sidewalks better to

040accommodate pedestrians and cyclists and ebikes um to be safe in their part of the road as well as uh drivers to be safe in their part of the road? So um if I could have like a grandmaster plan, Congress Street would have a dedicated bike lane um that is barrier protected from cars and that bike lane would be perfect for ebikes, people walking, so on and so forth. And then cars are nice and separated, too. So, I think that is a a very big task for the town to take on, but if we could put it in a 10-year plan, it's something that would be really useful long term. So, a lot of thoughts there. Any comments on that? >> Yeah, and I think um you also touched on transportation, right? So, um I think

041obviously one solution we could we could uh we could come to would be to totally ban ebikes from from our schools, right? No ebikes on the property. Problem with that is you already pointed out a number of students use it to get themselves to and from school, right? I was over at Stacy uh earlier this week. I can't remember Monday or Tuesday. account of the ebikes, there was 22 ebikes. However, there were probably more bicycles than ebikes that were lined up. So, well over 50 bikes, some ebikes, some some bicycles. So, clearly kids are using it to get them to and from school. Um, we don't transport every kid. Um, and so taking bicycles away from students creates a a a different challenge for us. Um, I'll be curious to see what happens in the

042winter. Typically in the winter we see bicycles go away. Um, I don't remember last winter. I don't I don't remember ebikes as many ebikes certainly um that we have this year. I don't remember them last winter. Um, so I don't I think it's I think last spring is when we really started seeing ebikes um just in more numbers, I guess. So I'll be curious to see if the ebikes go away once the snow flies um because then again that's a different set of challenges because the roads get narrower and narrower as we get more snow. So, um I think anything that we think of with banning bikes especially, we have to think of the other side is how are we going to get kids to school then? Um so, thank you for bringing that up.

043I don't know if anybody else has questions. >> Yeah, I'll pick you back off what Brennan said. That makes sense. Um but we are dealing with kids who have access to very fast ebikes. Um at one point there weren't any ebikes and yet there was still a school. People still had to get to school. Um, so it's hard to control that. And I think any anything short term, I'm not sure how that would work. It have to be long term. Like you said, like a bike lane type of a situation, but these these kids' brains, man, they're not fully developed. They're not going to make really great decisions. I know I had a motorcycle at one point and I made better decisions. So like I get it, you know, it's just >> I don't think

044there was as many accidents with, you know, pedal bikes as there are with ebikes. So somehow they got to school in those two miles without an ebike before. I believe they can do it again, but I'm I'm open to, >> you know, suggestions. >> Thank you, >> Chris. Yeah. Um, yeah, I've already brought this up in a future agenda that, you know, policy committees, you know, you guys are going to have to start looking at this. Um, I think, yeah, one of the first aspects, as Craig alluded to, is just having the police come in and just teach basically kind of ebike driver education. And I think that's, you know, certainly going to be kind of one of the first steps. Um, you know, no different than what we do for bus safety, right? We

045have bus drills and bus safety training drills there. So, we're going to have to uh teach teach students bike safety, ebike safety with that. Um, you know, I'm certainly not looking to LR. I think, you know, both of you just also said that we're it is a good mode of transportation. you know, we may not agree with that style of mode of transportation, but it is a mode of transportation getting students here. It's it's here. So, to outlier altogether, I don't think is a to me a good idea, even though I know other school systems have. >> Um, >> but to me, maybe it might be walking the these ebikes on property, right? You know, my my fear is we we've seen accidents occur in town on not on school property, >> but to me

046it's only a matter of time before something happens on school property. Right. You know, you're saying that there are there are 20 ebikes at >> Stacy. I know one day I counted a dozen out front here at at the high school and they're growing in popularity. So growing in popularity increases the numbers that are out there is only going to increase the percentage chance of an accident. So, to me, probably a policy that has some sort of zones that when you get into the zone, you start walking the the ebikes. Um, and I think I a a policy that is, you know, just says no ebikes on on property and administration teams are going to have to outline where those designated areas are because they'll know their schools best. Um, you know, it's again just

047trying to get ahead of it before we have an accident in our school. Um, and then to answer your question quickly or to kind of respond, the comprehensive plan, we looked at >> bike paths in town and it was something that was that was discussed with planning board and it just unfortunately just the the street makeup >> it was it became >> um too it was too restrictive. We couldn't do it unfortunately logistics and yeah logistics of it would say in Main Street it would you would have to remove parking on the side of Main Street to have it you know and I think the best Conger Street. Yeah, it's >> because that >> it's the requirements, right? The requirements of your width are very specific by the state. So, when you start putting bike

048lanes in, it just we wouldn't be conforming. So, unfortunately, >> we're up against those types of restrictions. So, >> for sure. So, and I think one other thing to to I guess consider I when I was talking to the chief, I was talking about this too is where we're restricting the use of bikes, ebikes in a number of places. Um, specifically on the back fields, uh, I think we have a sign over here on the tariff complex. Doesn't mean that we don't see them there. They're there, but they're there with less frequency. Now, uh, over at Woodland, we have some signs up. Um I believe I can't remember uh honestly I thought that he said that they they were illegal on the bike path but I think there >> we passed a bylaw a few

049years ago. >> Yeah. But it was like up to a certain miles per hour. Exactly. Might be class ones and >> but potentially that could be they could be something looked at that that may go away. >> The problem with like the problem with restricting it in all these places is that leaves the kids nowhere to go but the streets, right? like there's no >> I we still need to find safe places for them to to ride the bikes. Um because I don't want to just push them out into the street because then we're going to have bigger challenges than we have. Um I'm I'm here often at night and I see kids riding around the schools in the parking lots. Um I'm not sure that's the safest place for them either. Um, but it

050gets them out of the street, too. Uh, so there's got to be a balance between finding safe ways for them to ride. Um, and then also, I guess, um, yeah, just finding safe places for them to ride, but then also having some restrictions in place. Uh just my two cents. Um I think uh walking them on campus, >> I think that's where I I I don't like the idea of banning uh personally. I if it gets kids to school, then I think that's a really good thing, >> right? Um and uh I think you know the solution is saying, hey, you just got to walk them on campus. You know, I thought about maybe saying no power, but to enforce that would be like really difficult, but I think you just simply, you know, you

051walk them on campus. Um, and two, a thought. Um, I, um, had Kristen sent me some pictures of the the bikes in high school. >> Um, can we get some storage for them, like bike racks, >> like sooner than later, because they're kind of a mess. Um, and also like again, you I think we we want to start to encourage >> um the kids to get to school, but you know, there's there's there's at least 20 or 20 or so >> guys out there today. They're over here. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It'd be nice to have just some bike racks or something at the schools. Mhm. >> Um but yeah, my two cents I think you know maybe walking them on campus we start there and then obviously we can change things as they go

052and then you know the principles would have you know their authority to do discipline as needed. >> Okay. >> The area with the bike racks is does that have to be as close to the school or could that be like as soon as you get on school property there's a designated area there and then you have to walk. >> Yeah. So, >> I think I think um yeah, >> one thing I noticed with the bikes um many of them aren't locked >> or chained up to anything. They just >> there. >> None. Yeah. >> So, um I think with ebikes, you need some kind of key or something to get the thing actually moving. But >> I mean, you can still pick it up, I think. >> Um >> they're heavy. >> They are heavy.

053I think that's one reason why they we keep them close to the the buildings is people actually have to come on campus and it's yeah >> not as easy >> good >> thank you. Yes. >> Thanks. >> Great. >> More to come I guess. >> Yes. >> So uh yeah let's move on. So the report of the assistant superintendent for teaching and learning. >> Sure. Um thank you. So, I'm here tonight to share kind of an overview of our official accountability data for U. Milford public schools. Um, and then I will also talk about math specifically. So, we'll start with um what is the accountability report that we receive from DESIE? Um, and so the accountability report that we receive is how DESIE tells us whether or not we are meeting their defined performance targets.

054And they define the report um the performance targets in five ways. One is around achievement of MCCAST in ELA, math and science. One is around growth of ELA and SCI and math because kids don't take science every year. We don't get growth scores um for science. Um high school completion um meaning dropout rates um and retainment um information. And then progress towards um English language proficiency on the access standardized assessments. That's about our English language learners. Um, and then additional indicators in terms of chronic absenteeism and advanced coursework completion at the high school level. And so I want to be clear that these these are the only five metrics that this entire report is kind of being based on, right? And so I think there's a lot of things that are missing here. Um, I

055also think that there is no voice um or no data from Brookside or Memorial or Shining Star being present. So the way Desi is kind of rating Milford or giving us an accountability report is really based on our 312 performance on these five indicators. Um when you look at the report um at the top of the report um and this is all publicly available on our school profiles, but Dusty um has some maintenance right now between 5:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. So everybody will be able to access this um but here's some screenshots um for us. So, at the top of the report, it kind of tells us right off the bat that we are not requiring assistance or intervention. We've m we're making moderate progress towards our goals. Um, we have 49% moderate progress

056towards our goals. But I think it's important to call out um how we did in 2025. So, in 2025, we have 54% progress, which is up from 41% progress in 2024. Right? So they they have a calculated weight of 2025 being 60% and 2024 being 40%, so we're I would argue making more progress than the 49% um rating from based on last year's um data here. So I think that's important to to call out. they get this 54% number um by giving us scores um on those different indicators and different pieces in terms of whether or not we're meeting partially meeting or not meeting kind of targets that they sent to us based on the previous year's data. So when we look at that um you can see a breakdown of what they are exactly

057looking for for achievement, what they're looking for for growth, what they're looking for for high school completion, that progress towards attaining English language proficiency, and then our other indicators. Um everything is worth four points. You either get zero points because you declined, one point because you kind of stayed steady and there was no change, um two points because you improved but it was below kind of where we wanted to be, three points if you were meeting their target. Um and four points um exceeding the target. So just so you understand what you're looking at, I'm just going to really quickly talk through I'm looking at the achievement. Um I'm looking at all students column and so in English language arts achievement, right? That's based on the scaled score of MCCAST last year in grades 3

058through 8 and 10. We got one point out of four, which means basically we stayed flat across English language arts. Um, in math we got a two out of four, which means we improved but it was below the the target. Um, and in science we also improved but below the target. And that's where we're getting our five out of 12 points which counts towards 60% of our um column of all students, right? And so you can kind of look here and see where are kind of our glows and where are our grows. Um, so I what I want to call out to you is I think that there's two major things that we should be celebrating. Um, one is around when we look at our lowest performing students in our 38, um, we're we're exceeding

059targets in ELA achievement and mathematics achievement, right? So, we got four points out of four points there for our lowest performing students. So, um, this tells us that those students are are exceeding expectations in terms of their targets, right? it does not mean that they are necessarily exceeding expectations as a score on the MCCAST, but they're exceeding expectations of the target. Um, the other thing that I think is a huge piece that we should be celebrating is around our English language proficiency for our elementary or our um grades 38 students um based on access. Again, those students are exceeding their targets from last year. Um when we look at some of our areas of growth um or decline that we need to kind of dig into and really unpack together, it is around high school

060achievement, right? We saw a decline. >> I can tell you that like some of the questions there is around that this is the first year where MCCAST was not a competency determination and so did that impact how our high school students took the MCCAST and as a result did we see achievement decrease? Um the other thing I think we need to be looking at is the fact that our extended engagement rate and our annual dropout rate also kind of declined here. Right? So we saw an increase in dropout rate um and we saw an increase in um our students that are staying with us past um four years the cohort graduation rate. >> What's extended engagement rate? >> It is the kids that are here past the four-year cohort. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah.

061So, five years. >> Five years. >> Everything here is public. The other thing that's like if you want to dig into the data that you can dig into when you go to the dusty um profile is you can look at each of these indicators in more detail. Um they will break it down by subgroup. They will break it down by school. They will break it down um just with more details of what exactly the English language arts achievement was. what was that scaled score in 2024 versus 2025? So, you can really get into kind of like the the details here. Um, but this is kind of a big picture of where we are um from the view of DESIE um in terms of our accountability report from last year. So, I will pause there and

062see if there's any questions before I talk specifically about math. >> Quick question. When you say target, how what is the target and how are they set? they give it to us and it's based on what the pre we did the previous year. So they will um if your scaled score average was a 480 they will set a target of a scaled score of 490 say and those are not exact numbers. >> Is there yeah is there some sort of percentage or some some very complicated >> I think it's a complicated formula formula. Okay. >> My understanding is Dusty isn't very transparent about where their numbers come from. >> Yeah. So, uh, it's not in this. >> I'm okay with not if if it's a if we don't know, but it's it's set by the

063state. We have no control is what >> correctly. Correct. >> They put us on a >> it's on a different report that we can't get to uh right now because it's down. >> Yeah. >> There's a there's they put us on a track um >> for the number that we were at um precoid, right? >> Okay. They put you on a track from whatever it was 2021 to get back to that number. Okay. >> And they like step it up every year and that's the the target. It gets readjusted though every year. >> Uh so like >> say it's exactly say we're six points away. They may put us at two points the uh next year that you have to try to get to. >> Okay. >> All right. If you get beyond that then

064you get the >> the four points. If you meet it, you're at three and so on and so forth. >> But it's really also like there's a goal, right, of where we want to get to, but it's also based on the previous year's >> Yeah. >> data, right? So 2024 >> is important when we're looking at 2025 because you're really comparing to what we did in 2024. >> Very good. >> So those goals change every year as the previous year. >> Yes. >> So the target's always moving. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Any other questions? there. Okay, thank you. >> All right, so I'm going to dive into math a little bit um on both the accountability data, but then just kind of where we are um giving you a report of what's going on in

065the math department. Um I want to because I just talked about accountability data, I want to dive into the accountability data for math. So I think it's important for when we talk about math for you to kind of know where we are in the adoption of the highquality instructional material for illustrative mathematics. Right? So the school year that we just finished Woodland was finishing year three of implementing IM. Stacy was finishing year two of implementing IM and the high school was finishing the first year of algebra 1. Okay. So when we look at kind of the change from 2024 to 2025, it's important to know kind of where each school was to to understand that change piece, right? So I think it's really a huge we know we were going to take a dip, right?

066And we took a dip in year one and year two when we look at Woodland and we look at Stacy in terms of accountability data on math achievement and math growth here, right? And and we're seeing a huge kind of change, right? We saw a decline in SY24 and we're seeing yes, we are not improving to where we want to improve because we're not meeting the target. Um but we did make a change there um of a 1.1 scaled score points. I think what's really important is that we know that growth is going to come before achievement, right? And so the fact that we're seeing our mathematics growth for our 38 students shift from an SGP of 43.2, two, which is on the low end of average growth to a 52 um SGP and SY25.

067Like that's a huge jump that we need to be celebrating, right? And again, growth is going to happen before achievement happens. So the fact that we're growing nine SGP points on average and we're also growing 1.1 scaled score points on average across 38, I would take as a win and I would take as like the IM program is making a difference for our kids. When we look at Stacy, I mean, when we look at the high school and we look at grade 10, I I debated putting this data in here because the thing about this data is that the kids that took the grade 10 test actually have never sat in an IM classroom because the grade nine students or the algebra 1 students were who were getting IM in algebra 1 in SY25. So

068the data for grade 10 reflects kids that have never had a highquality math instructional program and we're seeing a dip. So are we seeing a dip because they haven't had a high quality instructional math program and now it's not a competency determination. So the amount of effort that they're putting in when they become grade 10 students is something that a lot of high schools are kind of starting to to happen because we did see a dip kind of across the state in grade 10 testing. I want to dive into each of the schools a little bit more just so that you can kind of see historically where we've been. So at Woodlands, right, it was year three of implementing IM last year. Um 31% of our students were meeting or exceeding expectations, which was an

069increase from the previous year of one point, one percentage point, right? And our SGP was a 58. 60 is where we start to get high SGP. And so they went up three points. And I think that that's a huge shift for the kids in Woodland and is a huge win. The other thing you will notice is that this bar at the top here are our students that are exceeding expectations. That increased and our students that are not meeting expectation has stayed steady. What I really would like to see is I really would like to see this bar here decrease. Right? We want less kids to not not be meeting expectations. Um, so we want to see that push from the red into the gray and the gray into the light blue. Um, as we kind

070of go, we are also back to a level of where we were prior to implementing IM. Right? So, prior to implementing IM would have been SY22 and SY22, 31% of our students were meeting expectations. So, after year three of implementing, we're seeing we're back to there and we would expect that we continue to kind of grow. Um, I said three years ago that it takes five years to implement a program. So year three being back to where we started makes sense um in terms of the research. So what is Woodland doing this year? Um Woodland is is kind of focusing on two things. Um we talked about a little bit of a fishbowl classroom that I had done at Memorial. Um we have a fishbowl classroom happening in grade four this year um with our

071math specialist and a grade four teacher. Um that's the intense lesson planning um observations and debrief and really coaching for that teacher. Um the goal there is that we're able to then get other teachers into the classroom to really see like what does this high quality instruction look like when we are implementing IM um with integrity. Um grade four and grade five also have a lot of math department time which is great. Um they're diving into the standards, unpacking the standards and really thinking about how are how am I teaching the standards through this material right now that I I have three years under my belt. How can I kind of meet the needs of our kids? um but staying true to the standards and not changing the standards piece of things. Um grade three

072is is implementing expedentiary learning, so we're kind of letting them do literacy right now and we will bring math in um back in when they when they're ready for it. At Stacy Middle School, um we saw a a huge drop um last year in year one of implementing and we are seeing a huge rebound. Um and so we are seeing a 4% increase in students meeting and exceeding expectations compared to last year. Um you will see in this graph like a big kind of dip. That's year one of implementing and we're seeing a rebound of of 4% but here's your SGP going up 12% 12 points which is huge um for them to do. I also will name for you that >> um the kids that are not meeting expectations is >> the kids that

073are not meeting expectations has also shrunk. Right? So although we didn't see that change um at Woodland, we are seeing that change here um at Stacy. At Stacy, we have a partnership this year with West Ed Research, Teaching Lab Consultants um and assistants um and they are actually receiving um we have five teachers in grade six and grade seven who have opted into this opportunity. um and they are receiving weekly coaching and debrief support um from the consultant um with some intense lesson planning and unit planning um support. So I expect to see this continue um to increase and continue to grow um at the high school. I'm not going to dive too much into this um because this data is not representing the high quality instructional material. Um we are in algebra 1. We

074are continuing that implementation in year two. who they are focusing on assessments and amplifying the assessments to align more to the language of MCCAST and also have level one and level two um assessments where we are not lowering the cognitive demand of the math but we're really amplifying the language and then we are rolling out geometry um is in year one and so the the kids that sit for MCCAST this year will have had one year of IM through a geometry program um so the data will be will be interesting but that's really I would say the first year one of math data for MCCAST that we will be able to see um and the high school or myself will be coming back asking for money to um adopt algebra 2 um because we had

075to do a slow roll out at the high school um this past three years. Um we can't think about we can't forget about Brookside and um Memorial. So I pulled I ready data to kind of show you kind of where we are with student outcomes. Um, I will talk you through what this means, but this is the endofyear Brookside I Ready math data. 30% of our students last year were mid or above grade level, which is the equivalent to proficiency, right? That is a 1% decrease compared to the year before. Um, 5% of our students were two grade levels below. That's a 1% decrease from the year before. That's we want a decrease there, right? We want less kids to be in the red or less kids to be two grade levels below. This is

076the typical growth. So it's the median typical growth. So a little bit different than MCCAST because MCCAST is average. I Ready is median. So the middle number. So nobody on the high end or the low end is skewing the data, right? Because we're picking the kid in the middle. So we had a 94% typical growth. Think about this as like one year's worth of input. We want to see 100% output. So, a little bit lower growth than we would kind of want, but it's up 13% from the year before. So, that's that's a huge shift um in a median. And it take it takes more to shift a median than it does a mean >> um because a mean can be skewed by some of the outliers. >> Brookside, we're really not pushing anything IM

077specific right now. They're they're taking on expeditary learning. They need the time to take on expediary learning and kind of really focus on literacy. we are thinking about how are some of the literacy instructional practices also in the math classroom and and what is that connection there um but there's no math specific professional development or push right now and then the last one we have here is Memorial um Memorial you will see huge improvements um and huge gains so at the end of last year 38% of their students were proficient um that is a 5% increase from the year before when we look at kids that are two grade levels below. We had 4% of the students there. That is a 4% decrease, which is a good thing from the year before. Their median was

078109%. Um, and that's up 15%. Right. I I will I will tell you that I really believe that some of this strong data is because of those three fishbowl classrooms um that existed at Memorial that did not exist at Brookside or any of the other buildings, right? Um so what are we doing there? Right? there's momentum happening here. Um we also have three teacher leaders that we can capitalize on um the work that they put in last year. Um they are leading grade level TCTs um with their peers. Um they've received a lot of professional development this summer um and into this fall around like how do I be a teacher facilitator and what does that look like when I'm trying to guide my peers um to make some shifts in their practice. Um and

079they're really focused on warm-up. So, the very beginning of an IM lesson is always a warm-up and they're focused on different warm-up routines and they have a cycle that they will go through with their colleagues of planning of teaching them something about the warm-up and then they'll come back the next week to do a planning session. Um, we also have the L staff co-e in our IM classrooms at Memorial. Um, and so the EL teachers will be working on developing their understanding of mathematical language routines um which come out of uh Stanford. those are built into the illustrative math program. We have never really given explicit professional development around those instructional routines. So the L teachers in their TCT will be getting that explicit um professional development um through the L coordinator in partnership with

080the fishbowl teachers that are taking a big teacher leadership. When we think about collective efficacy, I think that this is a really strong example of teachers owning the professional development time. Um, we invested a lot in those three teachers and they're now ready um and confident to kind of do this work with their colleagues. Um, and it takes it takes a lot to run a professional development session and they're excited for it. Um, so I'm excited for them. The first one is um tomorrow and they were here from 3:30 to 4:30 kind of like practicing with each other um and giving each other feedback on what they're going to do. Um my big message on kind of sharing the MCCAST scores and the I Ready scores is is the shifts that we've seen in this

081data is all based on student outcomes. Right? We have learning walk data that we can share that show the instructional practices shifts but at the end of the day it really comes down to the different student data that we have to kind of show the shifts. Um and I'm excited for this. Um, but I also think it takes a huge investment in the teachers to provide the planning time, the coaching time, the feedback time so that they can continue to kind of grow their craft. Um, and so there's a lot that's still happening. And I guess I'm just saying that because I'm wearing both hats, right, right now. Um, but it's really important that like the curriculum supervisor of math role is continue to kind of be supported financially. um because I think that these

082outcomes are because of that support that we've been able to put into place. Um but it's all going to continue this year as well. >> Questions about what's happening in the math world. >> Chris, want to start? >> Yeah, just quickly again, thank you very much for presenting everything. Certainly, uh it it tells the story, which is great and and kind of easy from from my side to to be able to decipher. And I know this question's probably been asked and answered, but why in year one do we see the dip? >> Because your teachers don't fully understand what they're they're they're reading a script, right, for lack of a better word, for the first time, right? And they're trying something different. So, they're not comfortable. The kids are being asked to to um >>

083it's more student centered. It's less teacher standing at the board and drilling and killing and memorizing equations. I think we see a dip because kids are used to memorizing and then they're able to regurgitate. Um, and this this program is not a memorization regurgitation um, type of thing. And so it is >> it is a different way of learning. Um, got and so I would say we should see the dip in literacy too, right? Like the the data just says we see an implementation dip. >> Like you said, it's a fiveyear, you know, that it's a fiveyear trend that you're you hoping to see. in as you're showing with with Woodland, it had the year one dip and then two and three are are getting there and three being back to the standards from the

084previous style. So, >> yeah, but again, it just >> I'm sure anybody that's that's listening like, well, well, wait a minute, there's a dip. Like, why why would we change it only to have to wait another couple two to four years for a to see a change? A change is coming. And you said like you said it's a different style where the outcome will benefit the student. >> Yeah. I also think it's going to be really interesting to look at like the kid that we implemented IM with in year one who was in third grade didn't have IM at the K2 level. Right? So they're >> it's not that they didn't get the standards, it's just that they got the standards in maybe a different style, right? And so the prerequisite ideas that IM assumes

085in grade three, those kids don't necessarily have. So now I'm a third grade teacher. I'm trying to teach this new program. My kids don't understand the program. I don't understand the program. And I'm just trying to like survive and kind of make it through the first year. What's interesting is this year, the kids that got it in kindergarten are current third grade students. >> They'll sit for MCCAST. So, we'll actually have MCCAST data now to kind of show where we um ended up, right? And so, like >> Memorial, the fact that Memorial went up this much is huge because all of these kids have had IM from the beginning if they were in Milford public schools. >> Correct. >> Um Brookside, we need to see an increase there. We didn't invest as much time and

086energy in the teaching and learning of math at Brookside as we did at Memorial. there just there was no way for me to do both at the level of intensity that both needed to happen. >> Um I believe that if we were able to provide the fishbowl type of experience to all of our teachers, we would see the increase faster. I'm hopeful that at Stacy the teaching lab partnership, the West Ed partnership and the assistance partnership with those five teachers, we will see a big gain and change. >> Awesome. Great. Thank you. All good. >> Yeah. It's encouraging to um to see the trends heading in the right direction. Obviously, the dips uh like you said about the high school, the first year in the high school, there's a there is a learning curve. Um

087so FY26 or SY26 will be another marker to see where we're actually at. Um, but it's nice to see that the intentionality that you've had on memorial has produced such good results and if that can spread, there's no doubt that that's going to also help everybody else. So, um, thank you. Very, very well done. >> Yeah, thank you for the presentation. Um, I have an odd question. Um, do you think the new literacy curriculum will also translate to additional performance benefits with the math only because I think of like back to SATs where you have like a paragraph to read through for a math problem >> and I don't know if that's changed since I've gone to school. So this is a two-part question. >> Yeah. So I think I think there's two answers to

088that question. I think we're bringing in a bu a knowledgebuilding curriculum, right? And so the purpose of the knowledge building curriculum is that they they spend a lot of time on one kind of subject. I believe kindergarten starts with like toys and tools, right? And they're unpacking toys and tools. Well, I am first unit is about the tools that you use in the math classroom. So there's definitely a lot of connections there. And so I think as we built kids background knowledge, they're now able to unpack these word problems more because they have some understanding of what the word problem is talking about, right? um that only works if the knowledge building curriculums content that they're teaching or knowledge that they're teaching is also in IM. >> I don't know how much there is or

089isn't overlap there. However, I will say like exponentiary learning knowledge topics are not random out of nowhere that were chosen, right? It's a researchbased. It was chosen. It's high quality curriculum. it um it does kind of like build the topics over years as well. So like they'll learn tools and toys in unit one or modular one of kindergarten and it'll come back in first grade and second grade. So they're continuing to build that knowledge. Um what's interesting about a knowledge building curriculum is it when we think about an MCCAST and they have to read a passage, if in the knowledge building curriculum they had that topic, then they're going to do great on that paragraph, right? or that reading excerpt. If they haven't had that topic, we're back to kind of square one. >> Sure.

090>> But if we don't build the knowledge, >> right? If you read something that you don't have any clue about, it's just words on a page. You don't have any sense making happening. So, we're the the purpose of the knowledge building curriculum is really so that we can start to build some background knowledge, which is only one piece of that literacy rope. Um, we have to think about the other pieces as well and give them the tools. The other piece of this is in the IM curriculum, one of the mathematical language routines um is around something called the three reads protocol. And that protocol ties really nicely to what they do in knowledge building where it's about like you read the story problem with no numbers and you ask the kids what's the story about,

091right? And so you're starting to get kids to to problem solve without figuring out, oh, I have to do this to get an answer because they don't read with numbers where they can then automatically like just plug it into an equation, right? And so I do think that there will definitely be some connections there. Um that can happen. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Welcome. >> Um I have some questions. Um so the implementation tip which makes sense. Um what are we doing to help reduce that stress for the teacher learning their you know uh new new system as well as the kids. >> Yeah. I think it's a lot of like patience and grace. I'm giving you patience and grace. I know this is hard. I know that this is overwhelming. What could I do

092to sit down next to you to kind of like work through this together? I think our instructional coaches at our K8 level is taking a lot of that. Um I think it's also teaching them that like if you are behind in pacing that's one of the biggest stressors right that's one of the biggest stressors in the bath that's one of the biggest stressors in the e adop um the expedentiary learning adoption is this like worry that like I got to get to this point by this day and time right I think the more we can show teachers that like we are being flexible with them and if we don't get to that deadline then we don't get to that deadline like let's make decisions together on how we're going to make those adjustments. So, it's

093being human. Um, it's telling them that we know that these are the emotions that you're feeling and recognizing those emotions that they're feeling. Um, and then also trying to hold the bar of like we need you to implement >> this high quality instructional program. We're not This is not going away, right? I think I think um Chris, you alluded to this a little bit. I think what some districts do wrong is they bring in a program and they're like, "It didn't work." And they throw it away after a year. And it's like, then we're just putting a different program every year. in the hands of teachers and we don't know if it actually worked or it didn't work. So that's more stressful than like trying to work through the problems. I think we're at a

094point now in math where like we yes we have the student outcome data. We have to we have to evaluate this further. Is this actually the program right? We've been implementing it for year four. We're spending a lot of money on it. Is this the program we're staying with for the next four or five years or like or is this not the right program? Right? And so I think sticking with it um and also just being a human being of like I know this is not easy. I'm asking you to do something that's different um and recognizing that. >> Sure. Thanks. Um I did have another question. So this is great. Um how is this going to influence the budget because we're entering budget season and you mentioned um you know sitting down and you

095can only do so much at one school to accelerate things. It sounds like we need some more resources or or shifting of things. So curriculum wise like programmatic wise right K algebra nope K geometry is built into the local budget already >> right so math budget lines at individual schools already have incorporated IM so we're good in terms of K geometry we're not asking for new initiatives we're not asking for new um materials or buys we will be asking for a new materials initiative around adopting ing algebra 2. Um, so that will definitely be an ask kind of coming forward. Um, you know, Michael, I I don't know the answer to that to be 100% honest with you. I think I think our instructional coaches are sometimes pulled really thin, right? Um, they're trying to

096do everything in a building. Um, is it more coaching support that we need? Is it consulting support that we need? Is it teacher leadership that we need? I'm not I'm not 100% sure about it. I don't feel like I did anything out of this world at Memorial. I sat with the teacher. I gave them time. I le planned. I was in their room. I debriefed. But I can also tell you that I probably spent 16 to 18 hours a week with two teachers at Memorial, right? to like the the time intensive, but now I don't have to be there. So I I don't know what that that ask is. Um >> great. Uh and then lastly, uh you know, showing the data. Um you know, I know on the committee, we've talked about this over

097years and um you know, when you're a parent and you get I Ready and there's no explanation from the school or a teacher, it can get very frustrating and and challenging. Um I know I personally went through that. Um and so how are we going to do it better this year so that when the parents do get this information u there is there is a path or they at least understand it a bit better. >> Tell me more about what they don't understand. >> Yeah. So like um for instance and and this come up by multiple members where we'll have kids in the system and you get your eye ready and it shows that you know your your student might be you know um behind somewhere right a certain percentile or maybe even uh decreasing

098right um but then you know you see this and you get it and it's just a piece of paper you're like oh this is interesting but then you talk to the teacher the teacher's like oh everything's fine it'll be great >> right and this has happened over multiple years u by multiple committee members have been asking like how are we going to reconcile like do we trust the I read a report which is good you know it's good data and then we have the school saying everything's going to be good um and it might be um but again it's it's very disjointed when you get it coming home with that with with no information with with the u the scoring so just some some feedback there it's come up every year and >> I had

099a conversation earlier today we had a math committee meeting and they were meeting in buildings rightmorial Memorial was doing their fishbowl stuff. Brookside was Brookside was talking about the reports and and Michael, I'm going to say this because I think it's important for the community to to understand this is like at the beginning of the year, right? When a kid is in the yellow, right? They're one grade level behind, but they're a beginning of second grade. Well, if I'm one year grade level behind, I'm scoring in the first grade. I should be scoring in the first grade because I haven't learned anything in the second grade yet, right? So like as a as a parent, as a educator, I'm actually not concerned that they're one grade level behind because it's the beginning of second grade

100and they're in first grade. That makes sense, right? >> I don't that's really hard to wrap your head around. This data right at the end of the year with 41% of our kids that are one grade level behind, I'm concerned because now I'm talking about a kid that's at the end of second grade or supposed to be at the end of second grade and is scoring in the first grade. So now there's actually this like gap. So what I'm hearing you say is like that understanding is not necessarily had by our parents. >> Um and it's a conversation I had with our educators today that they're still wrapping their head around. Um so some type of >> something um to really explain that and make sure parents understand that as well. And then what do

101I do when my kid is two grade levels below um in a specific domain? >> Last question on that one. Um and uh there's this letter that gets sent out, you know, if your uh student drops below a certain level um >> for literacy, >> I think. So I I it's a standard letter, right? >> Yeah. It's a dyslexia guidance from the state. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I know like two years ago it was sent out like it was it's very bland letter. Um and I know last year we had one of our members got the letter after school ended, >> right? And so it it was it was frustrating um where it's like you know again disjointed communication and then there's no path on what to do next right and so if we

102could do better that that'd be great I think. >> Yeah. So what you're talking about is the dyslexia guidance from DESIE right which is a um >> screener that we have to we have to have a tool that screens kids for dyslexia in grades K through three. Um, so the letter will go home with the I Ready reports in January and then potentially again um at the end of the school year. We have moved up the I Ready window this year um to make sure that we have time to get the I Ready test results done, get the family letters printed, to get the dyslexia letter written to then get it out to teachers to families before the end of the school year. So, we do have a plan or hopefully a timeline that's going

103to work in terms of time there. Um, but I'm also hearing you say like there's no personal information in that letter. That's actually helping me. >> It's a standardized. It's very state and it doesn't really help you as a parent. You're like, "Okay, great. Now, what do I do?" Right. Um, so anyways, just some constructive feeling right there. >> We have one more question. Um, >> is there any additional focus or or plan in place for those students in the high school that have not had that before and like just more intensive? Obviously, their time frame is a lot shorter than the younger younger kids. >> Yeah, you're talking about like our um >> 10th grade and >> so it would be our current anybody who's in algebra 2 or above do not have I

104does not have IM. Yeah, we've the the algebra 2 team actually at the high school now that we have IM running in algebra 1 and running in geometry. We made a really specific scheduling change this year where like the teachers that were teaching algebra 1 were not also teaching geometry were not also teaching algebra 2. So we actually have content teams this year. The algebra 2 content team met I believe on Tuesday because they've now doing most of their department meetings by content team and they're looking at how do I pull some of these units of IM that are free and open into my algebra 2 curriculum so that I can start to get used to it and also provide that to our kids. Our our lessons are scope and sequence are still all grounded

105in the Massachusetts frameworks. Um they're still standardsbased. they just have always kind of been teacher homegrown material, right? Which >> teachers have a really hard job of being pedagogical experts and content experts and they can't also be content design experts, right? And so asking teachers to do all three of those is really hard. Which is why DESIE a few years ago or 5 10 years ago at this point made a push for high quality instructional material because they believe that teachers need to focus on the pedagogy and the content instead of the design. Um so how do we how do we encourage those teachers from algebra 2 up to be using um the materials that are free and online? Um and they're starting to work towards that this year. >> All right. Thank you. Any

106other questions? Good. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Appreciate it. >> Um, where are we? Report of the super school business administrator. >> Thank you. Um, I'd like to bring forward a declaration of a schoolowned vehicle. This vehicle was uh purchased um two three years ago and unfortunately got into an incident and um it was not repairable. So, it has been um parking in stored in the um RJM garage. >> Um right now, we just want to remove it and declare it as a surplus. >> Any questions? >> I'm guessing it's been declared as a total loss. >> Yes. Okay, great. >> I'll motion to declare a surplus. >> Brandon motion motion. >> Second by Derek. All in favor? unanimous motion passes. >> Thank you very much. And then next is the information uh

107justformational personal personnel update. >> Thank you. >> Quick question on the personnel update. Sure. Do we ever include if we hire anybody for contractual services? >> Contractual services like stipen. >> Oh, >> not necessarily stipens, but >> like from outside lender. Correct. >> No, they're not our employees. >> If they're not in our employees, we don't report them here. >> So, contract. Give me an example. >> Um trying to think. So I know like if you >> say in the springtime um special education department needs to bring in uh someone for outside testing over a longterm period of time. >> Okay. >> Because of just uh Yes. >> What about a different language >> or >> Yeah. for a different language. So anything like that. So anybody that's that's here not necessarily for like in

108a sense a one day but over maybe a period of time. I just wasn't sure if we if that was ever tracked in here or not. So, >> um, in that case, I I I can't think about an example. It would be paid out of the warrant as um >> invoices coming monthly, >> if that's the case. >> Yeah. >> Um, but they're not our employees. >> Right. Yeah. Or even Yeah. I don't know if we've done any contractual services for for IM, you know, to bring people in to help. Again, just more very very basic and generic >> staff augmentation but through an outside vendor. >> It just wouldn't show up in a list like this. >> Yeah. >> It show up on like you said more invoices or invoices. >> Okay. >> And

109maybe I'm not answering your question completely, but like it's in the grants, right? So like the the way we get the teaching lab partnership is through a grant. >> Okay. >> Um and then you know you have a consultant as a part of that grant. >> But depending on the grant. So some grants some grants we don't actually get the money the money we win the grant and the money goes from desi to the >> vendor right >> in other cases we get the money >> but it's already allocated to >> a vendor >> okay >> um I don't know >> make sense >> it does I just wasn't sure when we >> when we look at >> you talked about something else though which is different like special ed >> if we have >>

110other testing that has to be done. It all goes through the special ed department and >> right >> like like when said, whoever did the testing is going to submit an invoice and then it gets paid that way. It wouldn't show up on a list like this. >> Okay. >> Very well. >> Thank you. >> Great. Uh consent agenda. So we have a warrant for 1,21,128.85 and uh the September 18th, 2025 minutes and then a professional development update. Does anybody want to pull anything from it or are we good to approve it? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Motion by Chris, second by Brendan. All in favor? >> Good. >> Motion passes. It's unanimous. >> Any subcommittee updates? You already heard the uh Well, it's not Never mind. >> Yeah, >> I don't think

111so. >> I mean, school building committee met last night, but you got the uh update today from Ch. >> All right. Um any future agenda items? [Music] >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Policy. Policy. Policy. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Motion by Derek, second by Brendan. All in favor? >> Good to go. unanimous. >> Thank you. >> We're off to