Milton School Committee - May 25th, 2022

001foreign good evening everyone and welcome to the school committee of Wednesday May 25th 25th um call the more meeting to order at 702 pm uh the um next thing on our agenda is to approve our agenda for this evening and I know I have a couple of um changes um one is to add citizen speak which we neglected to include and so that will go in on our agenda as item 4 underneath the superintendent's report and also under the chairs report where we're going to be approving the school year calendar that should refer to 2022 23 school year calendar that's just a minor correction but any other changes or um subtractions from the agenda if not I'd welcome a motion to approve the agenda so moved thank you we have a second please thank you

002and roll call vote uh Dr Carol yes Dr Miranda yes member White yes member uh Stanley yes member Vargis yes and chair Rosemary and yes okay so we're all set with that um and um I'd like to uh take a moment before we start our meeting tonight um uh the Milton school committee would like to take a pause for a moment of silence for everyone impacted by the recent acts of violence in our country just since our last school committee meeting on May 11th on May 14th in Buffalo New York 10 people were killed and three were wounded when an individual entered the tops Family Market and a largely black neighborhood and began shooting on May 15th just the day after a shooting took place at a Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods California one

003person was killed and several others were injured and most recently there was a tragedy that took place yesterday May 24th in ulvade Texas at Robb Elementary School where 19 students second third and fourth graders and two adults were killed and several others were injured and yet another senseless act of violence as stated by superintendent jet in last week's blog these incredibly common acts of violence only solidify the need for us as a district to continue with our work of diversity equity and inclusion and to make all who are part of the Milton Public Schools Community feel safe seen heard and valued we are grateful to the entire Milton Public Schools leadership faculty and staff for their courage and support of our students during this very difficult moment in our history in remembrance of all the

004victims of these tragedies their loved ones and their communities that will be forever impacted please let's observe a moment of silence foreign thank you very much next on our agenda I'll turn it over to superintendent Chet for his report and District updates so thank you chair Roseman and last week with this agenda was uh being prepared I did not think that we would have another situation as we did uh yesterday um but I I felt as though I would it would be remiss if I did not comment on it um oftentimes we see the aftermath of something tragic like this and the supports and things like that to go into place to support our students and staff and then in our extended uh Milton Public School Community um but I'm here tonight because I wanted

005to share some of the proactive things that we are doing in the Milton public schools to make sure that we're making connection forging positive relationships and keeping tabs on our students in the fall at this very same school committee meeting you had members of the elementary uh uh schools in the Milton Public Schools do a presentation on social emotional learning PBIS and some of the positive things that they're doing to be proactive to identify when kids are stressed identifying the emotional uh regulation in the ability to to access adults and staff in the building to make those connections I also want to elevate some of the things that we asked in our strategic plan we talk about our street strategic plan to talk to about social emotional learning safe and supportive schools in our Equity

006uh pillar we also asked the warrant committee to select board for the various positions to help us deal with these things that identify in be proactive to support our students when they were having a tough time so from trauma informed uh training November 2nd with our staff it's still ongoing to the hiring and the support of our adjustment councils for many people that don't know uh adjustment councils did curbside uh visits throughout the last two summers to support our students in a proactive approach to keep them connected to school particularly those who still remain remote last year as it was an option the MFE just did a celebration a couple of weekends ago and their funding need was for calm classrooms another initiative proposed by the leadership particularly at the elementary levels uh to work

007with our students to make sure that we're providing them with the support that they need that allow them to focus on their academics we are often lobbying for smaller class sizes smaller class sizes students we have the ability to focus in on individualized attention and really getting to know our students the Pierce Middle School implemented connection time last night uh last year to try to forge better relationships with our students and allow them to have another adult outside of their guidance Council administrator that they can make a connection to and then the diversity equity and inclusion we need to make sure all of our students despite their differences despite their identities filled welcome and connected in part of the school community when that is not happening we try to make the necessary steps to make

008sure that we contain them but I would caution the General Public sometimes in opposition whether it be on social media platforms and in a community sometimes the rhetoric that we spew can incite hateful acts of violence and so I call on a community in the wake of the tragedy you just highlighted in three different communities and many before that to come together even in opposition even in times of disagreement we have to have respectful cultural conversations and hopefully we all can grow from learning from one another I often set our diversity in the Milton Public Schools is a microcosm of the world as a whole and it is our strength it is our strength so I want to assure the general public that our partnership with Milton police is strong for those that don't know

009we have a security Council that took a pause during colbit but it was in place for many years with led by Sergeant Jack Richmond who recently retired in January but it's staying on as a consultant we will be working with Maximo Duro we have be safe floor plans everything and I don't get into all of the security because you don't want to put it out there but there's so many measures that are in place in contact with Milton police uh Milton Fire Department in the event did something tragic like this were to happen and how we mitigate or minimize the casualties that could obviously take place so that is something that is ongoing from cameras to swipe cards to securely which is an online platform that helps us identify when our kids are searching uh

010inappropriate things or concerning things it alerts all of the administrators within that building so they can reach out to the student and his or her family members to make sure that that student is safe so on one hand we see the tragic aftermath and we see the police response but we don't always look at the proactive steps that we're taking and I just encourage any family member if you have a child that's in distress if we see something on social media that's concerning share it with an adult it's always better to be proactive uh than it is to be reactive and so I want to thank you for uh affording me this time to deviate from the agenda to share that and I would encourage any parent or Guardian that has any concern about their

011child's individual school or building to please reach out to the administration and uh have your answers uh have your questions answered when tragedies like this happen uh students and quite frankly our staff start to question their own vulnerability with that uh within our buildings so some measures frustrate people to sign in doors lock as you can see those are some of the mitigating factors that we have in place to keep our students and staff safe so thank you I just wanted to make that comment in by me mentioning some of those things I don't know if any of the school committee members have any questions about some of the other things that we're doing in the Milton Public Schools I would be happy to take this opportunity in this public platform to share no I

012just want to add that I'm very grateful for the proactive stance that our faculty have taken in reference to this work long before these tragic incidents um the reality is this behavior is taught or it's found online but neither event the schools have assumed the responsibility to try to encourage students to look at the world in a different way that extends love and appreciation and respect and understanding for people of different cultures and um the incident in Buffalo being the first of many for the year it just made me realize that when we live in a country where a grandmother can't go to the grocery store without fear of losing her life just because of what she looks like the Milton Public Schools is on the right path to in in terms of our insistence

013that this work happens when a grandmother cannot pass away in her own bed in the peace and tranquility and with her loved ones we have created a country where um It's just tough to live so I want to thank you superintendent jet and the courage that people have to continue this work in spite of the fact that there are people who don't believe it's necessary and and I don't want a single Milton public school student to believe they're they're not valued or appreciated or celebrated just because of the color of their skin and the fact that we've taken it on is a priority to ensure that other people can see that value even though it may not be taught at home I give you all Kudos and I thank you thank you very much member

014Russian Dr Carroll I go to thanks Danny was just expressing um and also just wanted to say to your point about the role of the community um and our opportunity to sort of stand up and say what we stand for as a community I um I just wanted to say thank you to our neighbors with courageous conversations um and all the folks that organized the standout that occurred uh just before this meeting actually at 6 PM um originally scheduled to honor the second anniversary of the murder of George Floyd uh you know they did a beautiful job of providing space holding space for a lot a lot of people in the community who showed up um in the context of these last three tragic events that you mentioned um and so I guess I just

015want to thank everybody who participated in that it was so powerful and poignant especially that it kind of segued into Unity night at Tucker which is happening right now um the standout was at Parkway Methodist and right across the street from Tucker and you know although I'm sad to be missing the unity night right now um it was really like moving to get to practice with my kids like singing their song Lean On Me um which is all maybe performing right now um and it's just a feels good in spite of all of this grief and fear um and worry to to know that you know we are holding these faces for each other in this community um and that so many of our families and neighbors are are there um and I just also

016do appreciate your leadership on that um setting the tone to support our faculty and staff um who and of course are then supporting our students so thank you and we are all in this together and those of us who are in positions of leadership especially you know um I think have important roles to play around keeping this work um front and center uh focusing on why belonging matters um for all of our students and and families so thanks Dr Miranda yes I'd also like to uh Echo uh what member Denny and Dr Carroll just said uh and uh to applaud I think your leadership I think you know the stepping up and naming uh what we're seeing and the pain that it brings and uh just for us to sort of rally it as a

017community as a district to make sure that we continue to take care of our children and our families I think it also emphasizes the importance of social emotional learning right and how we need to pay attention to the mental health well-being of our young people and that there is a lot of stress out there there are so many stressors and we know that the pandemic has just exacerbated so much and that we need to as the adults in in the town we need to be paying attention and we owe it to our young people to make sure that they do have a sense of belonging but that we also respond to them when they are in crisis we need to listen to that and I just commend the district and I thank you you know

018us in spite of you know how hard it is sometimes to get into the schools I am always always grateful that it is uh because I'm always thinking about the safety of our kids and we need to make sure we do that if we have to go you know jump one more hurdle to get in it's okay and we need to remind ourselves so that that there is a purpose for it that we're as a village taking care of our kids and that's important and so I just want to thank you and I do think uh like member Denny said we're on the right path and there is there are so many members in the town that are just standing up and asking us to do better and we need to do so so thank

019you for your leadership thank you Dr Miranda remember White I want to Echo my colleagues sentiments and thank you James and the leadership team for setting the tone even late last night with the tragedy that happened yesterday and even though you know we're focused a lot on the young children I saw pictures of them today and they were holding up their Awards certificates for honor roll and for Arts rewards they had had a lovely ceremony in the morning and just to see their little faces and to think of all that has happened to to their families and the tragedy I'm also thinking about the older students and this this young man who committed this tragedy and wondering you know what happened to him did he feel disconnected at some point was he bullied I mean

020I can't help but wonder about his mental health and wondering what can be done to help all of our children of all ages with all of the issues that the kids are facing with today and you know it is sort of it is sad to me that our children have to do these drills at school and have to think about you know hiding in their classrooms and staying quiet and it just makes me sad to think about that but that is the reality of what we have to do to keep our kids safe and school should be a place of joy and learning and excitement and it is most days but these days really can you know make you feel a little discouraged but I have to say to myself no we've got to keep

021we've got to keep moving on and we've got to keep improving things we're going to keep taking care of our children because that's everyone's job yeah so thank you all for your comments on behalf of the entire District faculty and staff and all those who are working with our children I just I accept that thanks and I just you know words of encouragement for them not to lose their focus and lose their Spirit um they're in this job for a reason and that's because they love working with children and part of that is making sure that they're safe and they're in our presence so uh again thank you all um I'm sure many of you are probably getting updates from your principles about how things went uh in their schools and what what are some

022of the things that they did to support but in something like this it just doesn't go away in the day we will continue to monitor that and if anything comes up with families uh we just ask you to please reach out to the schools um it is a partnership and we look forward to uh enhancing that and enhancing the work that we're doing so thank you all and I also want to extend the thanks to the people that sent in emails not only to myself but to the principals given words of encouragement on a a really uh a really sad day and unfortunate day that you got to start out with your students like that in the morning so um but again thank you all [Music] it's kind of tough to follow that but I

023do have some good news um after a long process I'm here this evening I'm joined by two uh new key members of our leadership team the first I'm gonna start with I'm gonna start with Claire Galloway Jones uh we're very happy to have uh Claire come to us uh Claire has a bachelor's degree from UMass Boston and a master's degree from Wheelock College uh in urban education she has spent uh several years in the Bedford public schools in recently in the OR currently I should say in the Sharon Public Schools uh Claire is the mecco director and she also served as I believe the president of the medical uh director Consortium and uh although she's still currently at our Sharon Public Schools Claire actually spent the day uh in Milton Public Schools earlier today meeting

024with many of our uh principals uh instructional leaders department heads nurse special education uh leadership so um she's really starting to hit the ground running so I would like to welcome Claire Galloway Jones officially and publicly to the Milton Public Schools and if you guys don't mind we could give a little couple of snaps and then I would introduce the next person and I hope he's still on if you kind of there you go Scott McKinney thank you goth McKinney is going to join the Milton Public Schools as the next assistant superintendent of curriculum and Human Resources goth got his undergraduate degree in elementary education from Stonehill College uh he then went on to pursue a master's degree in education with a major as a reading teacher from Fordham University graduate school of education in

025New York then he also went on and did some work at Northeastern University in uh recently or his last degree is the doctorate degree in uh education Administration from the Lynch school of education at Boston College God himself even following an interview is kind of a funny story before signing a contract before getting the word he'd already reached out to Janet looking for data and information on the Milton Public Schools so I would tell you the two of these two are going to make a Mac they're going to complement the Milton Public Schools leadership in a great way they already are added and they are both eager to get started so I introduced both goth as the assistant superintendent of curriculum and human resource in Claire Galloway Jones as the new director of diversity Equity

026inclusion and then I would open it up for any school committee member that has a comment or a question for either of the newly uh adopted and they officially don't stop until July 1st but they technically already sucked any questions for our two candidates and not candidates I have two new uh leadership members well I I just want to say welcome uh to you both uh to Ms Galloway Jones and Dr McKinney and it's wonderful to have you here and we look forward to working with you we've got lots for you to do and we look forward to your engaging with with the work and becoming a part of Milton Public Schools so welcome just I would like to Echo what um member Rosemary said welcome to the district you are joining at a wonderful

027time where we have this critical mass of really good work just about to take off with our new um the phase one of our strategic plan getting our Dei work up and off the ground and we've made such great strides academically under the leadership of Dr Spalding as well as Janet Sheen and I'm just very excited to have you on board and I can't wait to see what you do for our students and our faculty thank you remember buggies oh did you have your head up it did I just wanted to Echo the uh um what member Rosemary remember ozdenny said I look forward to working with you I look forward to uh welcome and I look forward to seeing what you know to seeing what you have in store for us so we're very

028very excited thank you I would sorry I would then like to turn it over to goth McKinney or Claire Gallery Jones if there's words that you would like to share with the school committee or the viewing uh audience this is a recorded meeting so it will be shared in the community could look at it and if you don't say anything I'm not letting you off the hook that easy I have a question for you well I can get started um first I just want to say thank you for having me here this evening um today I I spent a wonderful day meeting many of the leadership in the district everyone was warm and welcoming um I am very very excited and to join multiple Public Schools as the Director of diversity Equity inclusion it's work

029that's really close to my heart and um I I think it's going to be a great partnership I truly believe that this work only is successful by partnering and building relationships and um I think we're about to hit the ground running I really enjoyed my day today looking forward to spending some time with school committee members as well as people and organizations and in the community again I think the only way for us to be successful is truly by Partnerships and really getting in there and being willing to listen and being open and understanding really what this work is going to do to enhance the achievement of our students and you know we know we have to focus on someone adults but really had to be mindful that all this work is really about the

030achievement of students and keeping them at the center of the work so thank you and I'm really excited thank you thank you Dr Dr McKinney yeah I just want to say thank you and thank you for the opportunity and I'm super excited to come to Milton July 1 although I'm anxiously looking to the end of the school year and finding some time to rest up but I'm also uh as Mr Jett said been bothering him and machine and so I apologize for some information to read and get ready for a smooth transition so thank you again I'm looking forward to uh joining a great school community in town so thanks again in a spirit of full disclosure a lot of people are very excited about Dr McKinney because for the last month I've been referring

031to him as goth Brooks about that I can't get that out of my head I will say both if it was the very enthusiastic and very passionate about the work that they do and again even though I say I look forward to getting started I have already started with the ongoing communication with both same thing with the team so uh Claire Galloway Jones uh Dr goth McKinney thank you guys very much for joining us this evening I look forward to our Communications in the days and weeks to come thank you guys thank you thank you thank you have a good evening thanks again have a good night so um the next thing I wanted to talk about um I'm not sure people are were paying attention to the news that came out of uh dph

032and Desi earlier this afternoon so I apologize some of that's breaking news so I thought it would be very appropriate if I could take a moment just to share my screen with you guys to talk a little bit about covet and how we anticipate finish shutting off the end of this Academic Year and moving into some of our summer programs which I know a few parents have already asked about so I'm gonna try this right now to see if I can share my screen and if someone could let me know if they could see my screen yep alrighty let me just go slideshow so I apologize to the school committee members because I kind of put this together after five o'clock because that's when I got the updates on it but I wanted to walk

033you through some of the uh some school committee members know this information already and so doesn't the general public each week in the blog we kind of highlight the number of cases that we had if you go back to uh the week of Wednesday should say Thursday May 5th to uh Wednesday May 11th uh we had 12 staff and 73 students in total that tested positive as you can see I have the numbers by school again this is I'm just reiterating what was in the blog very briefly uh then the uh two weeks ago reporting from the 12th to the 18th we had 14 staff and 88 students we saw that number climbing um as I indicated uh before typically when we see these spikes it looks like it's an average of four to five

034weeks and as you can see as of today the 25th uh we had 12 staff and 50 students that number has gone down uh a little bit so we're happy that it's starting to Trend in the right direction and that that is for today so update on covid-19 testing uh for the remainder this spring cell tests uh will continue oh sorry self-test excuse me let me get back here this cell test will continue to be available as we've been doing all year long for those parents who want to still opt in for the last four and a half weeks of the academic year you could continue to do so so we're staying status quo um uh to try to maintain in-person uh in-person activities as best that we can a summer program for the school-based

035summer program and don't worry I know I'm flying through this is a language I'm going to give you a 10 000 foot view in just a second that'll put it all on one page but um we could continue with some of the testing during the summer program for our summer school extended Year services uh MSC any program that we do with the exception of Community Schools that's might be a little separate uh but we're going to continue with our uh uh our testing kits as long as we have the Surplus but uh cic health will no longer be available through uh the state-run program all of the services that we had for them we do not do uh pool testing we haven't done that all year as it was we just did uh the symptomatic

036asym I mean symptomatic testing within the schools in gave people the opportunity to sign into that for the fall the state would no longer Supply self-tests or other covet testing services uh to schools or District um now that's how it stands for today uh for the school year 22-23 Jesse and dph strongly recommended schools and districts interested in implementing their own testing program limit that program to symptomatic symptomatic rapid testing only and then we can purchase it now a lot of school districts and I'll speak for myself as a superintendent when we were looking at this this was the testing that we've had was budgeted by the state and given by the state that is not something that was uh negotiated or even discussed in our budget so we will look at Alternatives but that

037is something that we're going to be superintendents are going to be communicating with the commissioner about and asking if he puts that on it especially if we stop to see a spike in the fall when I talked about that high level overview um I will send a shot like this in the blog as well as you can see for the spring if you go down uh the current program is going to continue uh we do symptomatic testing that program uh continues right there and then we still have the cic health support including managing and consent forms those forms that we have that we share with families that will no longer be available in the fall um for the summer program we don't do the surveillance testing so that state program is ending schools will have

038access to they provided self-tests for the school-based summer programs that's what we're currently doing now that will continue cic Health Services will no longer be available and as I just uh stated in the fall there's no State program support schools can purchase the self-test through the Statewide contact they did provide superintendents with a contact that information was gestured with me this afternoon so I still have to delve through that whole process and see what that looks like and see what the price tag is going to be um and try to see what we could do to negotiate to see if that's something we're going to continue and then a cic health services are no longer available new quarantine uh quarantine guidance and this is effective as of today 525 quarantine for asymptomatic exposed students regardless

039of where they uh their exposure occurred or their vaccination status is no longer required for schools students who are identified as a close con as close contacts may continue to attend program as long as they remain asymptomatic so now students even if exposed for longer than that 15 minutes that we've been talking about they still could come to school they could still you know they don't have to quarantine as long as they remain asymptomatic those who who can Mass should do so until day 10 a test on days two in five is recommended but not required so again we have that testing program from I think for the benefit of the school environment but also the benefit for those at home if your child is exposed and we still have the uh testing kits I

040strongly encourage and recommend that people test their students on day five I'm two and five even if it's not required I think that's important for us to get through uh the next four and a half weeks but also if your children plan to participate in the summer program we want you to do that as well we all know sometimes uh there's no set day when you start to develop symptoms so some people could be asymptomatic and not even know and be the carrier of the virus and share that or spread that isolation for positive cases students who test positive must be isolated for at least five days if they are asymptomatic or symptoms are resolving and they have been fever free for 24 hours they may return to all School programming activities after day five

041provided one the student is able to mask they must do so all the way through day 10 that's very similar to where we are if the student is unable to mass they must have a negative test on day five excuse me or later in in or later in order to return to program that's and again that's only if they're unable to mask so I wanted to share with parents very similar to what we were talking about some of the things that we're doing proactively to uh some of our mitigating strategies again I share this in the blog but we have purifiers in all of the classrooms in offices all classroom and office windows we encourage them to be open whenever possible obviously downpours and things like that we still leave them cracked to avoid water

042uh coming into the schools into the windows of water damage um all MPS although we have mass optional I'm strongly encouraging people to wear a mask during the school day especially indoors in large crowds is they have a concern a health concern or concern for someone in their household um obviously if there are classes where you see a couple of students in the class that may have been out even though you're still eight uh asymptomatic I encourage you to wear a mask and if we're going to be in large crowds indoors whether it's an assembly or something like that I would strongly encourage people to wear a mask and again I do that so that way we can maintain all of our end of the year activities but more importantly keeping people safe please continue

043to encourage your children to do the routine hand washing remember that at home testing kits are still available for our faculty and staff they can check in with the school building principal or nurse considering we experience warm in temperatures if you drive by some of the schools you might see some of our classes taking place outside on these days where the weather is favorable and vaccination as a reminder vaccines continue to be the best way to uh protect individuals against the kobit 19. and I will share with you I'm gonna stop sharing this for a second we haven't done a vaccination clinic recently but I will say you can almost go to your pediatrician your primary care physician CBS Walgreens some of these facilities still offer uh the vaccine um and I would encourage you

044to do it we're monitoring the situation uh for those who have five years older or younger or under five years there's there's conversation about where that's heading and I apologize with the events of the last couple of days I don't know where that stands because I haven't gotten that update but I will double check that hopefully before the blog goes home so I share that with you because I'm not sure if anyone has any questions about where we are I share it not recommending to the school committee any change I just bring it to bring awareness to the larger uh public the greater public any questions about uh anything covid-19 yes Dr Miranda uh yes uh superintendent yet just wondering if you think that by the next uh School Committee Member you'll have a son

045I mean a school committee meeting if you'll have a sense of what the cost might be if we would opt to do a testing program ourselves I would love to tell you yes but I have no control over that uh and I had no idea this new data was coming out this came out today I actually got that information about quarter to five and try to put something together uh using the information I already had to kind of give a quick update um so I would hope so um but I'm not sure if I would have that information and then how much do I get you know what I mean thank you yeah core Redmond yeah so back in I think it was late February when you um took away the mask mandate you said

046that those other mitigation strategies of having the air purifiers on and having windows open would be enforced and I haven't seen that happen so I'm just wondering what your plan is to continue to do that and to try to enforce those better so that those strategies are keeping us safe so so Cora I appreciate your comments and I don't know how comfortable you feel but I think if you talk to any faculty and staff they've received several emails from me meetings principals have been not only asked but told to make sure that that happens if there is a teacher or teachers in particular that do not follow that code and if you want to share that with me I would be happy to take that information and have that conversation with those individual teachers myself

047okay but there isn't any like other systematic way of making sure that each classroom has those in place so every classroom has an ear purifier in it every classroom that should be turned on most classes and I'm saying most classes have Windows to the outside that could be open obviously the class where we have a typical in-person school committee meetings that is a class but it does not have Windows to the outside but it has rooftop units that are open anyone that's experienced that room I know uh member bakis and uh chair Rosemary and took a walk with me the other day and they saw that it is cold in that room even on a hot day those windows are open so that nighttime ambient air is filtering through all the time those rooftop units

048are open um but there's no systematic way it'll be very difficult for me to get into every building and look into every class to see if that happens but that's what we need to rely on our Administration our principles our vice principals to make sure that that is being executed foreign and better yet I don't want you to come to me and share any names it's very easy for me to look at the schedule and make sure that I have every single teacher on your list that I speak to to make sure that that happens I don't want you to call teachers out so you don't feel email me or come to me thank you very much chair Rosemary um yeah um superintendent I was wondering about this the discontinuation of the cic health staff

049and and it's been so long I I don't really know do we have cic staff who have been working in Milton Public Schools over these last few months that will be leaving as a result of this change so we started out with that if you remember that's how we started the test and stay way back in I believe it was supposed to start at the first day of school it didn't get off the ground until mid to like September but through the process of Opera money through the process of f so money we were able to secure the supports that we needed prior to the pandemic but it's only helping us out during the pandemic so the prime the primary supports that we're getting from cic at this point in time the guidance the the

050hotline the forms and obviously the uh the testing that uh that's what we got the testing in conjunction with Destiny right I have one other question if I may the the surveillance program um have has has that been um being implemented um in these last months and if so um what what how many people are involved in that the surveillance testing is the pool testing what we have is we have the take-home test kits that we provide that's not mandatory that's optional um some people do it some people do it sporadically some people only do it when they feel is a concern that there's been some exposure but they opted in we make sure it's available on a designated day in each of our schools that students and staff can uh access that but that's

051that's the only testing we've and again I've said this several times on on these public meetings and any opportunity I have we do asymptomatic testing but it's it's not it's child wakes up you send them into school sick I think as much as I can say that I want to say that because some people would do that um and very innocently oh you said maybe you go to school and have the nurse check you out we don't want that if your child is sick keep them home particularly if they're presenting with some of the uh symptoms that are on that at home checklist self checklist well I I just I I'd be interested in in hearing also um like Dr Miranda asked about about you know what what it might cost for us to continue

052to make those self-tests available because if there are families who are taking advantage of that to be able to check and see if if their children are um well or not um then I think that would be a good thing to consider so what I could possibly do to probably give you some baseline information is ask each individual building how many people are accessing the test on the average uh each week that's one thing and then also reach out to Destiny remember we never paid for any of this so I don't even know how much these test kits cost these were we just had to put in a request for the number you want and then go from there and and we kind of put in a request for extra so we could have them

053as a surplus God forbid if we needed it so I could definitely try to get those numbers but I just didn't want to guarantee it I'm gonna do my best to get it but I couldn't guarantee it by the next meeting that's not impactful remember Rod steady um given what you shared tonight about the testing likely not being funded in the fall and many of the mitigation efforts that we relied on over the past two years going away by state mandate what chorus said is even more concerning and it is not the best use of your new administrator's time to police teachers but if we if the leadership team could find a way or just literally just brainstorming how can we make a safer environment a safer unmasked environment for students without it being an

054administrative burden I don't have an answer off the top of my head but as a parent who recognizes that there are some families who still do have kids masks or families who believe their kids are going to be okay because the state says they're going to be okay right that's the blanket security well if the state says it's good it's good I I don't think um the the motivations behind the state changing the policy may not mirror what parents are anticipating so if there's any we can do um more monitoring or or encouragement to keep those windows open and those units on without kids feeling like they're tattling which I appreciate you I literally the reason why I raised my hand was Cora emailing to rather teachers out like I I don't have I don't

055want the mea looking at any one of our students side-eyed because they might be turning in their teachers but there's an expectation that the adults are far more culpable in all of this um because they're they're on our staff and I want to make sure that our kids including our school committee members that are elected feel safe in our buildings so thank you Cora for what you shared because there's a lot of information that we don't have because we're not in the buildings every day so you can you've been our eyes and ears on a lot of things and I appreciate it foreign thank you any other questions all right and my last little bit is is to really talk about um I hope people pay attention tomorrow's blog is going to give a list

056of some of the end of the year activities uh it's a lot going on from graduations I think Dr Carol talked about it this evening from athletic uh the unity uh at uh Tucker it was senior night uh tonight for softball you know you have music programs you got uh concerts you got field days you got field trips you got the graduation for the 2000s the class of 2022 there's so much happening and it's going to be a very busy time without a doubt we also got the annual town meeting coming up I would encourage all parents and Guardians it is virtual as best you can to tune in um there are a lot of things that are going to be discussed that are related to the town but in particular some of those things

057that are very important to the uh the the Milton Public Schools budget that I think people need to hear and should hear and stay in tune um I think people elevated some of those concerns in the aftermath or that the tragedy and what we're doing some of those positions that we are lobbying for and asking for that we desperately need some of those positions in that budget and making sure that we have this staff and to support the students when they walk through the doors of the Milton Public Schools so there's a lot going on and I hope people I I know it's kind of tough and you're juggling a lot if you're a household of two maybe divide and conquer to make sure that you're getting the taste or information from all of the

058activities that you can so some enjoyable some meetings some budget talks but we hope that people tune in so thank you guys very much and at this point in time I would deal my time to uh chair Rosemary thank you superintendent chip um at this point on the agenda I'd like to open up the floor to Citizen speak um if we have any members who would like to speak um you can raise your hand and you will be promoted to share your thoughts I just promoted Laura but I think it takes a little bit of time before she appears on a screen uh but I no longer see an attendee so my hope is she's a panelist I see I see her name as a panelist Laura are you there Laura if you're out there

059if you want to turn on your camera you would appear or if you just want to unmute yourself you could there you go thank you hi everyone and thank you uh this evening is my first school committee meeting so um it's been nice to listen to all of you and what you guys discuss on a regular basis and thank you uh to all the school committee members and superintendent jet for um let me just to say a couple remarks on our community health assessment um we'll be doing town wide so I just have my little handout here I'm just going to read off of if that's okay with everyone right now sorry I'm just going to adjust my computer good evening my name is Laura delacai and we have some exciting news to share with

060you the Milton Health Department has received funding to conduct a community health assessment also known as a cha and formulate a community health Improvement plan also known as a chip thanks to the efforts of Senator Walter Timothy in securing Federal Arbor money for this project the Milton Health Department has never before conducted a formal assessment to uncover what types of health challenges service gaps and health disparities that exist in Milton it is a best practice for local and State Health departments as well as Community Hospitals this process will allow us to collect information through stakeholder interviews focus groups and surveys and by analyzing existing statistical data collected by our partner in governmental organizations to help us better understand and address Moulton's greatest Health needs excuse me and identify those who may be at greatest risk

061we have access to Regional epidemiologists who will help us collect and analyze the findings and this data will be used to inform the development of a strategic action plan also referred to as the community health Improvement plan the chip which will focus on addressing preventable illnesses injuries as well as the mental and Behavioral Health needs of adult and young residents ultimately we hope that this process and data will bring new policies procedures and resources that will promote a healthier melting we hope that our town agencies partners and residents will help to make this a successful effort by sharing their ideas perspectives and data I am also pleased to announce that the Board of Health unanimously voted to approve Milton resident Laurie Stillman as the project manager to oversee the design and implementation of the cha

062and Chip and guide the team over the next 9 to 12 months Ms Stillman has had has over 35 years of postgraduate experience managing public health organizations and Community Health Improvement programs across New England and is Thoroughly familiar with many Health Data sources that exist within the town and has fostered excellent relationships with Community leaders and institutions across all sectors in addition to Ms Stillman our assessment team will consist of the health director Caroline concilla myself Laura Delica is the assistant Health director and two Regional epidemiologists our efforts will also be coordinated with the Milton Coalition a program run through the health department the Milton Health Department is committed to ensuring that the assessment and strategic plan development will be transparent community-based participatory process we are excited that the partnership for a healthy Milton a

063non-profit organization dedicated to promoting a healthier Milton will serve as the Project's core Community advisory committee leading the charge to reach out to local community and Grassroots organizations leaders and residents to assist us with a comprehensive thoughtful and respectful plan of action if you know of anyone who may be interested in joining the community advisory committee through the partnership for a healthy Milton we are taking applications or letters of Interest until June 15th of this year we are very fortunate to have already many residents expressing interests please contact the health department by June 15th at 617-898-4886 to be considered for a position on the community advisory committee the time commitment would be meeting up to two hours every four to six weeks over a nine to 12 month period we thank you for allowing us

064to make this announcement and we hope that you will be involved and point us to any relevant data that might provide us with insights knowledge and perspectives on how we can make Milton a healthier town to live in for all thank you does anyone have any questions at this time that they may want to ask thank you very much Laura this being part of our citizen speak portion we don't allow a back and forth of question and answers for this part of a meeting but we look forward to hearing um back from you about the results of your needs assessment and how how this goes in the community especially anything that might have an impact on the Milton public school so thank you for coming and sharing that information thank you very much Madam chair

065and have a great night everyone take care foreign with a raised hand I don't see anyone else with a raised hand but I give it a second if anyone has any comments uh if they raise their hand using the uh in the bottom of your computer and if I see again up I would elevate it to panelists so you can speak okay I only see three people three people on other than M uh so at this point in time I would say if you would like to move on with very good anyway thank you uh so next on the agenda is summer meeting dates and retreat date and um um what what uh we're thinking about for um this this summer is a one day Retreat that would be um like a half of it

066a day um generally when we've done them in the past they've started at four or five in the afternoon uh we'll meet for um one or two hours have a light dinner and then continue on for a few more hours into the evening um and um during that time um I'm hoping to bring in someone from masc to do a little work with us as well as do our goal setting for the year um and um uh so that's that's the the plan for the retreat and in terms of dates um we're interested in um possibly the um first week of August and want to get a sense of uh what your availability might be during during that week are there any dates that are are there any members who are going to be out

067of town that week for one and and if not uh that are there any dates that are just out um maybe through process of elimination we can arrive at a date foreign I have a heart I I Mondays and Thursdays would be hard for me I'd have to get permission to leave work early and um that would be a little challenging because there are short staffed in the summer with vacations but if I if it's the only date that's agreeable to the whole group I can ask now and get permission so it should be all right okay okay but Tuesday or Wednesday um what might be possible for you so that would be August 2nd or August 3rd um Dr Carol thank you Betty um yeah of those I I I'm supposed to be out

068of town that week but I think I can be flexible to to be here but I do have something for work uh Zoom that ends at five on Tuesday the second and I wouldn't be able to meet until after that so of those two dates um this the Wednesday would be better it is better for you okay we're narrowing down Okay um anyone else is um August 3rd uh well August 3rd work for uh the rest of you a member of our gays yeah I can do August 3rd wonderful I'm available okay zipper Dr Miranda does that work for you it does okay well then August 3rd it will be um and um would people be able to arrive um as early as four o'clock uh to get started would that be possible or is

069five o'clock better five is always better but I can do four yeah same okay all right okay all right let's let's shoot for four possibly five I haven't haven't come up with an agenda yet and we still need to confirm uh with masc person um about the timing but having a date and a ballpark um begin the beginning time of four or five would be perfect so that's that's terrific and then the other um uh uh meeting in August um is um right before the beginning of schools August 24th Wednesday August 24th um and I think um from Charlene roach that that is that's kind of a uh an important date for us to be able to meet before the um beginning of school um Dr Carol you have a comment question foreign I I

070was just before we moved on from the retreat planning I just wanted to say I I totally support the idea of uh masc sort of having some I I don't know if that is someone who can help facilitate our meeting I remember that that was something we sort of considered as an option last year and didn't end up doing that but I just wanted to voice my support for you know trying to um prioritize that I feel like it could be a good helpful thing for us good good yeah I feel that way as well thank you Dr Miranda so this is in relation to the August 24th date I'm actually going to be out of town I'll be in California so it would be really hard probably for me though um even zoom in

071okay [Music] thank you uh member White so my question was are you thinking that on the 24th we're going to be remote or are you thinking it's going to be an in-person meeting that's a good question um well it remains to be seen um I think the the thinking is that we will be begin meeting in person but a lot will depend on um what covid does and and if we can have the room uh set up I'm really hoping that we'll um Milton access will be able to help us set up the room for hybrid meetings um and um we haven't we haven't resolved that yet I don't know exactly about the timing uh for when that might be available I was supposed to be on vacation that week also and I would love

072to once again make a push for maintaining remote meetings I think that our participation is higher when it's remote and it does give a lot more flexibility than when we were meeting in person yeah I I have to check with Joe Emerson thank you for that comment um about the um the open meeting law that has been under emergency Provisions during covid um as the last I had heard was that that emergency provision was expiring in July but I don't know um if there's been any movement to continue that or not um I don't know if superintendent Jed or assistant superintendent I was going to say it's still as of right now it expires July 15th there hasn't been any discussion that I've heard yet about extending that yeah okay we should I think we

073should still be able to decide together that we want to offer remote access for people to join citizen for example but in terms of our ability to meet as a a committee so I'm wondering then if can we look at maybe is it possible to meet the week before that August 17th or I mean that wouldn't work um you know to have a meeting if two of our members can't be there right right um well I'm I'm gonna have to check back with with Charlene are people available on the 17th so I see some nodding heads um okay let me check on on the the 17th and whether that's possible um and and I'll get back to you uh at our meeting next week how's that sound sounds good very good okay um any other

074comments questions about summer summer plans um okay let me just look at the agenda here ah so next is um the school committee subcommittees and advisory uh committees and um you all received um a copy of the current years um the subcommittee listing um and I forwarded to you this afternoon [Music] um and updated beginning update for um next year's subcommittees and um I just wanted to um just highlight for you let me just see if I can find it hold on um what some of those changes are um uh um and and basically what what um what I'll be asking you all to do is is if you can go through uh this list and if if you're on a subcommittee now that you'd like to stay on let me know if you'd like

075to switch to other subcommittees let me know that as well um and if if everybody can get back to me with the subcommittees that they would be interested in being on um for this coming year by June 10th then I can try to put together um what what everyone has requested and see where we stand at that point and we'll have a meeting um our final meeting of the year on on June 15th and we may need to do some resolving of sort of moving some things around if we have say four people who want to be on a subcommittee and we can only have three for instance um um so so if you could all um get back in touch with me by June 10th that would be great um and on the um

076the updated list um I just wanted to highlight a a couple of things one one committee that uh we're we're removing from our list is the transportation um a committee that um has been an inactive uh for this past year um so that one will be coming off um also I'm not sure um with the bargaining team whether we'll be finishing our our bargaining um before next year whether that will be continuing I I don't know where that stands and I don't know Dr Carroll or uh member Ross Danny or superintendent Jed if any of you can follow me well so the goal I mean is to uh the goal is to complete negotiations before the end of the school year great so that's what we're working towards right now okay okay so so then

077in terms of the bargaining team um I don't think we need a bargaining team during and off years um since we'll be just completing or will be there we we should have a standing bargaining team as my understanding to address um like a memorandum of understanding that may come up for a given issue okay you know just to kind of be prepared to that's my understanding Mr jet I don't know if you have a different idea I believe so we don't know where covet's gonna hit you might have members of the bargaining team negotiate or work with the association on issues regarding the return to school depending on where we are with covet there could be other items that um are kind of born out of this current bargaining thing that might require us to

078do some ongoing work with certain aspects of the contract so I would I would say yes it's something that needs to maintain good good okay well thank you thank you for clarifying that so we'll leave we'll leave that on um and then uh The Joint town uh School committees um I think that I'm looking at the updated one um there was one on there that I um I believe has has is not um an existence right now but I'm leaving on the town Capital Improvement planning uh committee but I think there was another one I don't know if anybody has the the other um let me just see if I can pull that up uh assistant superintendent Dexter do you I I believe that was the town consolidation committee was that the one you're referring

079to yes he's really been dormant for for five years if not yeah I think as long as I've been on school committee um so so remove that um from the list um member rosstani I would say that I feel like The Joint Committee between the select board and the school committee has been a proxy for that from the perspective that um lots of decisions have been made and voted upon in that setting and you know we always will have representation there but it's mostly been people from the finance committee Finance yeah yeah Finance committees separate meetings my my and those have been good the those I think those have been very collaborative um meetings and and um I hope those will continue and along those lines [Music] um and then under devolved responsibilities um assistant

080superintendent uh Dexter and and member um white um explained to me that the payroll payroll warrant um role is no longer um part of the school committee responsibility so we'll just have the vendor warrant um uh responsibility there um and that has um um typically been handled by the chair of Finance um Dr Craighead was doing it before and and um remember white I think um you were saying that you would be able to continue with that correct great great um so so those are those are basically you know if you take a look at the the subcommittee list and let me know uh what your what you're interested in doing and I'll try to compile uh what we get and then we'll discuss it uh at our meeting on June 15th thank you that

081sound okay all right let me just um okay and then the last uh thing and this part of the agenda is um uh approving the uh school year calendar for next year 22 23 school year um calendar it has been approved in draft form up until now we approved it earlier in the year to be sure that we um had um let people know when the beginning of school would be Etc but but now we have um we need to provide final approval for this and there were a couple of small edits made um on the um on this calendar but otherwise I think it's pretty much the same as as we had seen before Dr Carol um yes if it's okay I just wanted to mention um one thing as we vote to approve

082the final uh the official version here because since the last time we discussed this calendar and did vote um sort of approved it in uh tentative draft form I I have um heard I don't know if any of the rest of you have I have heard feedback from the community with sort of questions and concerns honestly about the morning PD late start change um concerns from parents about the Logistics of like how that will impact them in child care and whatnot and I do recall and I know that there was a I think a positive intent in making that change and adjustment to try a new way of fitting in the necessary professional development time for our teachers in a way that would actually be less disruptive I know that I recall that being sort

083of the conversation um that led to trying this as a new thing and I guess I just wanted to say um as we as I get prepared a vote to approve the calendar that I I have heard that feedback I understand the concerns that people have shared and I just sort of um count on us continuing to take this the feedback as we try this for the coming year you know and see how it works both for families and faculty and staff um and I know that we'll we're always prepared to kind of pivot based on feedback and you know based on how this new schedule works out like maybe we'll continue with this plan for future years or maybe we would adjust um so I just kind of wanted to put that out there

084because it has been a number of people have raised that for me great great thank you Jeff Carroll Mr Jett yes uh Dr Carol I believe uh I got a couple of emails as well regarding the concern for that uh the hope and the thinking about this which has been on the draft was if we were uh giving people or giving folks parents and Guardians is as much advance notice as possible uh that they would uh hopefully uh put plans in place for those who access Community Schools uh Community Schools I met with Martha Sandoval Community Schools will service the same students that would access Community Schools during their day we will provide uh the snacks for those students there I want to say to anyone that's out there some people are asking or two

085people would ask me well what is the time frame it will be a two-hour delay so whatever time your school starts if you're a colleague caught in Cunningham your school starts at 8 10 or 8 20 then it's two hours later than that and we will coordinate with with the buses on those days if you're Pierce Middle School in the high schools you would start at the seven or approximately 750 I know that each of the schools might fluctuate it by a minute or so with that but it's a two hour delay in the buses if you get outside if you go to the bus 705 then you will go to the bus stop at 905. it's it's a two hour delay either way you do it and the reason why I didn't put more

086information out there is because we haven't solidified that that vote but uh and I know some people ask well will you serve breakfast we could work on having snacks but if students are getting in two hours late they're getting closer to that lunchtime in their school day so they will be moving into lunch so my hope is if those who are accessing Community Schools they will have a snack for those who don't My Hope and expectations they will eat breakfast at home if not they would come into the schools in a short time thereafter they will be heading uh to some of the lunch times okay thank you superintendent jet uh member member of Regis hi um yeah that was actually my question was too was when would the start time be just I know

087a lot of families parents who are working out outside of the house have are you know encouraged to go back into the office so I just wanted to know how that would work logistically um would there be any before school like you know like after school on half days would there be any offerings like that just to help as a backup if they can't get child care as of right now is just the community schools and the reason why it's that way those of I a lot of our Unit D members and folks outside of the district participate in those when it's before schools we have all um faculty and staff that would be engaged in that professional development um that we would like to kind of execute and for those who are viewing it

088want to know why we were talking about before schools once the school day starts there's so many things that can happen uh that might change that might they could potentially pull faculty and staff principals out of that PD because we got to deal with whatever happens on that given day by starting the morning with the uh PD we have that uninterrupted very directed time that we could do it so for us that PD will technically last for about an hour and 45 minutes and then we give the people the 15 minutes to trans transition back or get ready to receive the students for the start of the day okay great thank you okay well thank you for for um raising those Rose those questions about the late start days because that is that is a

089change and um and I think um as Dr Carroll suggested that that you know we should you know stay open to feedback and be ready to reevaluate for next year um but I I do think that that um it's an it's a creative opportunity for getting some more professional development hours in that our staff really need and um it's difficult to to find that time uh so so thank you for raising those questions and and um and if there's anything else that Milton Community Schools might be able to do I don't know if um if you know sometimes they have special programs for half days half school days or whatever that you know whether they might be able to extend that opportunity for families for for these days it might be something that people would

090be able to take advantage of so so any other questions about the calendar comments if not I would entertain a motion to approve the calendar it's almost so moved yes we have a second second very good okay and take a roll call vote uh member of our gays yes Dr Carroll yes Dr Miranda yes remember us Danny yes member White yes and chair Rosemary and yes okay thank you very much so that will be approved and and we'll go on to finance subcommittee we have two um vendor warrants to approve tonight it's warrant number 46 stated May 6th in the amount of 468 668.39 um kind of a motion for that warrant amen okay second I didn't hear a second today second someone second okay thank you okay um member Ross Denny yes chair Rosemary

091yes Dr Carroll yes Dr Miranda yes member of our geese yes okay and then the second vendor warrant is number 47 dated uh May 12th um Amy just for you to check this amount because I had a hard time reading it off of the um what I mean I think it's 300 and 2 762.62 cents that's that's what I have that's right okay that's good okay thank you all right um okay um kind of a um motion on this so moved okay second thank you okay um member Ross Jenny yes chair Rose Baron yes Dr Carroll yes jacked Miranda yes and remember varghese yes okay thank you and then the second item on the um Finance is um a review Vision in the FY 23 operating budget that has to do with our Opera request

092I was going to have Amy speak to this a little bit tonight um sure so when the arpa request or when the arpa amount was approved by the select board from the FY 23 budget which included um positions that were in the rollover budget as well as positions that were in the supplemental ask that was included in the operating budget at the cost of the positions but as soon as you pull them out of the operating budget and pay for positions with federal funds mtrs which is the mass teachers retirement system charges a surcharge on those salaries if you pay them with federal funds so we're seeking an additional sixty thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars from arpa to cover that surcharge related to these positions we did meet with the select board finance committee

093um member white and myself on Monday morning or Tuesday morning I forget at this point um they voted to set it aside in arpa but not approve it at this time they wanted to wait until September when we had true figures for what the salaries for those positions would be and what the um known surcharge was rather than go by an estimate but what um we are asking the school committee to do is to approve the estimate of sixty Thousand Seven fifty um because due to the timing of when we were notified of their meeting we didn't have a chance to bring it to the school committee first so um we would like to ask to have that considered for approval by the school committee so that When September Comes we can revisit it and

094if need be we could um change the estimate to the actual at that point of time okay so I will make a motion to move that number for school committee approval tonight I have a second second okay all right so we'll do another roll call vote um member does anyone have any questions before we do the roll call vote no well the good news is that they are earmarking that money for us so it's not going to be spent somewhere else it's going to be available for us in September so I think that that was kind of the good news out of that meeting okay so member of Ross Denny oh I think um sorry one quick question so is that an annual surcharge on these positions it would be if those positions were approved

095for more than one year but it yes it's only in our for one year those positions that we're talking about I do have a spreadsheet if anybody wants to see it before you vote that shows what those positions are and which ones um would be subject to the surcharge because it's only those positions that are eligible to be in mtrs and that's based upon the license that they need to have I believe that's how it works any additional questions okay all right so we're gonna have a roll call um member Ross Denny yes hey chair Rosemary yes remember Dr Carroll yes Dr Miranda yes Anna Vargas yes and me yes okay that's the end of a finance committee report for tonight very good thank you remember white uh and then policy um Dr Carol thanks

096so um tonight uh policy report just consists of um updating our from our last meeting which was this past Monday the 23rd um we have sent to the full school committee for first reading tonight for policies um several of us were present at Monday's meeting so I apologize if any of this is redundant but just um to make sure we're clear on sort of the path that these four policies have taken um to our discussion tonight uh these are four interrelated policies on topics pertaining to non-discrimination um we are considering recommended revisions that were provided to us by the masc Massachusetts Association of school committees um these recommendations are part of an ongoing effort by masc to share with school committees across Massachusetts suggested revisions that allow policies to stay updated um in line as

097statutes sort of evolve and language changes so that's the goal of the masc in providing these uh kind of on a rolling basis various updates to policies we have the four policies which were all pre-existing policies uh ACR a-c-a-b and j i c k um these are the four policies that the policy subcommittee has voted to open discussion of the full school committee tonight um I I hope that everyone has had a chance to read through the red lines as provided by um our legal counsel who reviewed the policies and um we can see the sort of their suggestions and comments around language that was the reason why these policies have sort of taken some time to make their way here because we opened discussion of these uh quite some time ago and we then

098kind of took a pause on all of our policy work um with the election uh to to allow us to um just pick things back up these are some of the pieces that we need to attend to before the end of this school year uh what do we need to walk would we like to walk through the four policies one by one um what would member Ross Denny I know you are not there on Monday when we walked through them um we also left off that meeting saying if anyone had any questions you know from that discussion that they would like to bring to tonight um that would also be be fine I suppose we'll open them one by one uh with an emotion we don't need them we don't need emotion actually because these

099are just first readings um but maybe we'll just go through them um one by one make sure questions and feedback are taken in um and then those changes could be reflected for a second reading at our next meeting um should we begin with policy AC non-discrimination that is the one that I still need to pull up um that one actually looks like one that was not hold on you're talking about the procedures responses it looks like that one actually may not have been attached to our email you say it's AC Dash r no it's just AC yeah I think I'm sorry I didn't notice that yes remember uh Carol it's not it's not attached it's missing from this one um does anyone mind I apologize for that um attach the other three can we can

100we just share our screen and look at it now is that possible you have you had them in an earlier email of routine about policy um subcommittee but let me try to find that sorry foreign okay um I am not am I able to share my screen to make sure I'll have the right window up sorry everybody thanks for your patience okay you see this window this is AC non-discrimination policy including harassment and retaliation yes I see it okay um the key changes here uh the addition of this language actual or perceived um shared ancestry [Music] um Bettina toner is uh the attorney who reviewed this policy on our behalf the suggested changes um this is actually the shortest of the policies um as you can see the purpose is to Define [Music] um retaliation

101in this part you can see here the updated State Statute that we are aligning to with this policy does anyone have any questions or comments on on this I'll leave it here and let you read through it just if anyone wants me to scroll down just let me know I think this one is really quite straightforward yep I agree okay so any uh other questions on this policy for the first reading okay you can see here the cross reference to other related policies and will be um looking at the others now would you like me to continue sharing my screen with the other three that you did receive attachments for sure yes yes okay so ACR you want to go to that one next it's on the list yep Okay so you should be seeing

102um ACR procedures for responding to complaints of discrimination harassment and retaliation yep I see it yep so here um Caitlin Leach is another um person on our legal team these are suggested changes that we are um the way that they have processed the recommendations from masc continuing to Define discrimination and harassment adding in this piece about um grades achievements or other school matters um here you see the addition of the definition of retaliation that we saw in the last policy um there is the separate policy that we'll be looking at that goes more deeply into sexual harassment um so my understanding is that's what this part has been sort of removed out of this policy and we now have a separate the separate policy that pertains to it um but here uh one suggestion that

103did emerge from our discussion on Monday um it will be reflected for our second reading is that um this section will have uh what we discussed was to include assistant superintendent Sheehan's contact information there um and that was I really actually obviously be in effect for like two weeks um and that at that point need to be updated when we're joined officially by Garth McKinney to take over that role as our Title IX coordinator in that um assistant superintendent position uh so that that is one change that uh we didn't have the opportunity to add in between Monday and um today but that that will be there for next week lays out the procedure we one thing we discussed at the meeting on Monday um the question came up around you know how does this

104connect to the new reporting system that was put in place this past year um superintendent Judd I don't know if you want to speak to that I can't see you on my screen here when I'm sharing but I guess just to sum up uh how what we discussed around that was these policies don't um impact that process the process remains in place um you know these policies uh are sort of complementing the process that now exists which families can access um through the district website um and you know through uh channels that are available to them in their school buildings yes that is correct Dr Carroll and basically what I was saying is it just the reporting system doesn't change the the procedures that we follow it just streamlines the reporting system and it allows

105us to do it in a systematic way what I shared in the group sometimes you get reports through a phone call sometimes an email sometimes in person all administrators have been advised to insert that information into the system so when asked does a tracking mechanism and we could share how many how many complaints of whatever the type of harassment or complaint may be so uh but yes this is complementary complementary to what we uh will be doing as far as the reporting system it doesn't change that foreign this is the other change that came out of the um you know you see the blank Public Schools this will obviously be updated to say the Milton Public Schools it reflects the fact that um this language has been provided as a template to all districts to

106use so we just need to make sure we get Milton into that one um adding page numbers was the other thing that we talked about does anyone have any other questions about this policy Josh Coleman is the other attorney so those all the people you see in here are the folks who have waited foreign this is the sexual harassment policy you can see um you know more definitions of terms a different language around um responding promptly to allegations again the addition around threats concerning one's grades achievements or other school matter and then um this paragraph has um a new language in it just leave that there for people to look at and while people looking at this talk to Carol just so you know the policy AC has been sent to All uh school committee

107members if you needed to go back to that I just wanted to share that with you thank you it should be at the top of your emails from Charlene Roach yep updated language down down here about um and again this is just to stay updated with Title IX foreign [Music] language around the due process protections where to find additional information foreign okay the last one of this package is the policy harassment of students see some of the similar language we've seen in the other ones added in foreign those are all the updates there uh one thing that did come up in our policy meeting was just the clarification uh that this policy jick is um pertains to harassment of students there's a separate policy jic that we had begun discussion of in the policy subcommittee

108over the um sort of in in March um and uh that is a student conduct policy which uh we will continue to look at and update with the goal of bringing it more in line with our student handbooks um and we just haven't gotten back to that one yet um but that um that is distinct from this policy this was in the group that was recommended these recommendations sorry these revisions recommended by Mase um and so uh that jic sort of is still on deck if you like in a policy subcommittee phase um and when when we're ready to bring that for a full school committee discussion we will do that uh does anyone have questions about this policy JK okay so um oh I'll stop sharing my screen just make sure I'm not missing

109anybody okay um so we will bring these back next week that will be quick just for a second reading a vote on um approving these four policies and that that's all I have for policy for tonight um we'll have a new set of topics for for next week but when we talk about our next week agenda I'll get to that thank you okay good thank you Dr Carol that was a lot to go through appreciate your taking the time to do that um next on the agenda is a strategic planning advisory report um and I just have a brief update um on on our last meeting of the strategic planning committee um and uh beginning plans for developing the the next phases of of our strategic plan which include the action plans and the metrics

110and um the um superintendent jet has reached out to a group of people to form the metrics Advisory Group and sounded like a superintendent Jen I don't know if you'd like to report on on that at all that that group and yeah so we I reached out to several people individually all of them accepted the role to be on it quite frankly it seems like it's the same people that brought all the other ones all the tax don't work but they committed to doing the work um we we were going to have a meeting obviously the um or in a meeting out but now with the change of the annual Hotel meeting and everything else that was going on it just delayed that we skipped the week thinking we have an annual town meeting so

111I have to reschedule that the second thing I want to uh share tomorrow we're going to be meeting with our leadership team tomorrow afternoon uh uh in a library of Milton High School um I know you talked about your advisory date but looking at the Strategic plan and identifying those North Stars in which we can work with and really hone in on that and continue to work on that so even though there's a metrics team there's still going to be leadership team input and how do we do that and we're looking to do our Retreat I think I shared this last summer at The Retreat um for me personally I I think the Leadership Retreat should go before the school committee so when the school committee is making their goals they get some feedback so

112I'm in the process of trying to uh secure a facilitator and my hope is to do that at the end of June or early July it will be off campus um hopefully somewhere respectable and nice did it allow us to do some team building and really delve into the work that needs to get done so those are a couple of things that are on a horizon and I hope to get back I reached out to a couple of people as facilitators and I just got two more people today that I could reach to one of the individuals Dr Danisha Amonte Jackson I'm waiting to hear back from she does a lot of work with deep um disrupting Equity education uh program I don't know what people have heard of her she's done a lot of

113work she's working with our group unfortunately she well unfortunately I I didn't get that connection we had a meeting set last week and unfortunately I was eight minutes late to that meeting and her time is precious and she moved on but we're rescheduled again until fall for a follow-up so my hope is we could get get her to come in if not I got a couple of other people that we uh could count on to be facilitators and I would share that with um folks on this committee if they have a great facilitator helping us to do this work um in a rationale behind it getting the feedback from the leadership team we want everybody to be invested in the process where we ourselves become the facilitators we're not 100 engaged because you're walking around

114in and checking on individual groups we all want to be immersed in the work it needs to do uh needs to be done that's wonderful thank you thank you for that update superintendent Jed and and um it's one of the reasons that um I pushed the um school committee Retreat a little bit later in to August originally we'd been looking at a couple of weeks earlier and in conversation with um superintendent Jed and and about the timing of the leadership teams uh work we wanted to have the enough time for there to be a good sequence of of effort and um I'm really excited about um the Strategic plan informing the action plan work of the leadership team and then that will inform our goal setting for next year as well as superintendent Jets goal

115setting for next year and and so I think it um and then once we have our our metrics um uh Team uh worked on um hopefully in the fall we'll have that all the pieces put together um but I'm very excited about about aligning all of our efforts um along with the the Strategic plan that we have now and then I think it's a wonderful step for the district um any comments questions all right I'm not I will just move on to the next agenda item which is next meeting uh our next meeting is uh in a week um we this is um been a a a funny period as superintendent jet was saying about having meetings scheduled town meeting you know delaying things because of when town meeting was supposed to be and then

116town meeting got moved and uh a lot of a lot of meetings have have gotten kind of um thrown off um but our next meeting uh will be on June Wednesday June 1st and um I know uh Dr Carol I've got a a big uh item on the agenda you'll be bringing back all of these uh policies that we discussed here tonight for second reading and a vote and you'll have some others for first reading then or will it be to for a first reading yes which we plan to discuss in a subcommittee meeting next Tuesday afternoon which has been cross-posted so anybody is welcome to join that discussion at 4 pm Tuesday uh these are updates to our wellness policy and meal charge policy which are things we must update this school year um

117based on the work happening in health and wellness advisory committee which um member White chairs and that's meeting Friday morning this week right so there's been a lot of work happening this past year to update um this the goals and much bigger picture work but there is this slice of making sure our policies are reflecting the work that's happening in this area and that's um a conversation that will sort of rise up to this level for next week I don't know member white do you have any other information about that or um but look I know we'll be joined by Jackie Morgan at Tuesday's meeting to sort of be able to inform our discussion and understanding of the proposed changes to these policies from her vantage point so that will be added for next week

118and then while I'm talking about next week um we will also be doing I'm needing to do an executive session following our school committee meeting next week uh where remember Ross Daddy and I will be able to update you all on the status of uh our bargaining processes in progress contracts with both mea and the afscme which is just we'll just be getting underway next week Ukraine okay thank you thank you so um I'll get get that um thank you for the reminder about the executive session um because we're just working on the on the uh agenda um it was bet back-to-back meetings we're we're planning next agenda before tonight's meeting it was a little a little bit close um we also at next week's meeting will have uh Marina um for Fernandez who is

119a an engineer at the Town Department of Public Works coming to talk to us about the storm water management project that they are proposing for um behind Cunningham Calicut school that has been discussed at the facilities advisory committee a couple of times and and she'll be attending the meeting next week as well as we're going to have a team coming in to report on the efforts of the Commonwealth preschool partnership initiative grant that has funded Early Childhood needs assessment that's been taking place in the last couple of weeks and will be then moving into strategic planning for that project as funded through that grant that Grant Ends by June 30th so it's very quick turnaround with with that work but we'll have a team here to update the school committee on on those efforts [Music]

120um any other items that you all know about that that we need to include next week um if oh Lizzy sorry there was also the idea of um just circling back on uh Community forum and just the opportunity to discuss as a group thank you yes what we might want to try to do for the end of the year was something for that yes yes and I think I already passed that along to Charlene roach but thank you uh yes we'll add that to the agenda as well superintendent jet uh no I just wanted to remind all school committee members the senior award night you guys probably got the list of upcoming events and I also want to let you guys know two o'clock on Sunday um June 5th is the graduation on Brookfield for

121uh the class of 2022. um so I just want to keep putting that on your radar I would definitely follow up make sure uh principal Cahill sends out the invite as if it hasn't gone out already um and again it's it's a nice opportunity for school committee members who are uh working with the Milton public schools to enhance it see our students uh bless the stage and received their diplomas um and it also affords your opportunity after ceremony is over you can chat with a couple of the students as well or possibly beforehand um it is a it the the event starts at two o'clock you have to get there a little bit earlier and it usually lasts about maybe an hour and 40 minutes or so the time has been getting better and better

122as the we try to be as quick and succinct as possible people don't come to really hear us speak but they come to uh see their children um receive that uh diploma and signifying their achievement in the Milton Public Schools so I just wanted to make sure that that's on your radar you know that's great and superintendent Jed I don't know um if principal Cahill will be organizing for the procession um whether she will want the school committee to be part of the procession or whether we should just go to our seats in the on the field last year we none of us were exactly sure where we were supposed to be I would make sure that that is spelled out very clearly unfortun last three years has been three different types every time but

123typically in years past we were lined up uh as part of the procession we're in the front and it's very uh uh a very easy task for us uh in previous years it takes about 10 minutes to coordinate that's it but I would make sure that that information gets to you guys as soon as possible that'd be great thank you thank you okay well I think I think that ought to do it um and entertain a motion to adjourn meeting time most to adjourn thank you we have a second second very good thank you um roll call vote uh Dr Carroll yes Dr Miranda yes member White yes member Vargis yes member rosstani yes and chair Rosemary and yes and that ought to do it thank you everyone okay good night everyone good night everyone

124good night good night