Milton School Committee, Forum on Equity in Learning - January 25th, 2023

001um they started just ice amazing graduating School so our presentation able to take about 30 minutes and will allow for an additional questions which time we want to get everyone especially our staff at home safely and everyone whether they are um the back home safely and if it turns out that we'd have more to talk about um we can get to tonight please know that you can always still content by an email or um we ask people who do um come up to speak and we'll have we have a table up front here for those of you you who are here in person to come up to the microphone and then the folks online uh we welcome you to uh raise your hand in the zoom handwriting function to indicate that you would like to

002speak and we'll recognize you in order and uh Stephanie O'Keefe our communications director who uh will be helping moderate Medicals help us go back and forth between the um uh in person and zoom uh participants um and we ask people to please keep your comments to a maximum of three minutes to allow everybody the opportunity to speak that we've got time for work and we also asked everyone to do their best to maintain respectful community um so I'd like to turn it over at the moment Dr Miranda is the chair of planning committee and she's going to see a couple of minutes to set the contracts about our strategic plan which this is bread very good uh thank you chair roster so um I think the conversation um okay emotionally safe and incredible Veterans Day

003and learning experiences designed to ensure that each student carrying and contributing member of society um among the pillars it's a little bit I think sometimes it's not quite like that the best way to think about it is to look at our strategic plan it's actually the perfect circles that is able to achieve well does the overarch goal um and it's also important to know that if there is a theory of action embedded in our strategory plan I'll stay a little bit more so uh as a reminder pillars or oh yeah I like to think about like really is that the exact circles is personalized learning statement supportive schools and Equity to learn now when we think about our theory of action we are thinking that if we are moving in the right direction across the

004three if they you know centered circles we're going to achieve the call without us so remember that that the outputs are of individual student loans credit line right we want to make sure that all students they experience are robust and academic academic enrichments to experience so we want to make sure that each individual student has a rich experience with disability we are also interested in with the needle in the aggregate so as a district be automation that we are students and the aggregate are achieving and that that's going to show up in our high State stuff so individual District level change and also embedded in our strategic plan is the idea that we're doing right by all students we are going to see movement in terms of performance outcomes for young people or students who

005have been under achieving historically and also uh to be able to feel the opportunity gaps that we have spoken about for many many years so that is the ideas but the theory that's guiding our actions across the district now when we're talking about personalized learning it actually held the Forum already and personalized learning and we've been able to speak with us but what that is looking like in the classroom right we have heard how our educators are taken into account specific experience interests and needs of each student so it's not just going from it from a deficit perspective it's really thinking about what is each student I mean and how do we work on that how do we leverage that to be able to meet the needs of our students for all students now when

006it comes to our safe and supportive schools we also are recognizing that our young people needs feel safe they need a sense of belonging to our schools and if you've been listening to all the site household presentations every single one of our schools has done a beautiful job of explaining learning environment that is supporting our students in the areas of development right recognize it better than people are in the process of developing into Vehicles we want them to be and our integrating services that I might have found that many students supporting initiatives that we have in our district and again there is a lot of really rich and Rich stuff happening but it's all in an effort to believe in the city that are safe now tonight we're going to be hearing about Equity alert

007which focuses on creating conditions in which all of our learnings students and all of our Learners students and adults can find so we're not just to help all identity and abilities of the resources so we're holding ourselves accountable to make sure that we're making progress on the three levels that I told you about I talk about the individual I talked about the district as an aggregate right in the aggregate that we're seeing the changes I know that there's many of us that care about where we are at the range right in the state across the country we care about that and we're trying to move the needle in that direction and thirdly we want to make sure that when we are not we haven't been underperforming so how are they going to make it so

008that is our strategic plan just don't forget but in the first year when I'm here for the end um lots of work to do so we're making free games um so just keep that in mind think thank you Miranda um now I'd like to turn it over to uh thank you welcome everyone we're having some slight technical difficulties just give me two seconds I think it's coming back there you go so you can just so again welcome thank you so much everyone for coming out we're really excited to be here this evening um the three pillars and the intersectionality of them all really hoping that folks to Come Away with this form understanding that when you think about personalized learning students and Equity um in learning that that really is about educating the whole child

009is that we are really um talking about academic Excellence um is titled here all three of those pillars together people have high academic achievements and that's everyone across the district so I'm really excited again to be here thank you for helping me all right let's get started so as we think about um Equity the key to more Econo schools is really about deep commitment I think all of us really know that but um here's the catch um GI board is just one step forward reaching the MacBook of making public education more diverse exclusive will go pages on effectively carrying out TDM work at the microbe level okay so equality as we can see that everyone is getting the same um we see our boxes here but it's not equal access and then we look at

010Equity everyone is getting what they need but Liberation is really what we want we want no barriers at all in front of anyone we want everyone to have excess but also um when you remove the barriers everyone actually is liberated not just the people who on the other side of that thing so what we have here is uh Equity roadmap and really thinking about our Equity world map it's a journey it's a continuous journey and that we start off with adopting an equity mindset and really understanding what that means is you have to commit equities a journey and you have to know that it has to be embedded you have to collaborate value and prioritizing through inclusivity frame culture of self-reflection and New Perspective and really thinking about what that what adopting an equity mindset

011is I think it's really important that we try to demystify what Equity mindset means and really understanding that we don't want to come from a deficit mindset but we're really a growth mindset we think about Carol direct and the work that she did around growth mindset it's really important that you're thinking about you thrive in a challenge and that when you have challenges and or failures those are springboards for growth and so that's really important for us to consider um then when you drive your Equity plan you're thinking about nurture social emotional support empathize culturally responsive teaching build Innovative support support and challenge high expectations you have to always keep in mind that through all this work we have high expectations not only of our students but also of our practitioners and then we have

012expand your Equity Vision so again support professional learning opportunities listen ongoing feedback and persist positive change through perseverance and then again the journey continues you're constantly reassessing this journey one through three and this is kind of like a beginning template of trying to decide you know where do we want to go we know we're starting someplace I would say right now we are still in the phase of one of adopting an equity mindset with aspects of two and three that are happening but again it's a continuous Journey and so again we talked a little earlier when we first opened up in regards to some of the commitments that the district has made specifically in regards to the Quality review and Equity audit that was done by Cambridge education LNP Educational Services um in that um

013we had interviews or focus groups this is again long before I came there were Virtual School tours and over 3 000 surveys and this is a snapshot of the findings of our curriculum instruction and disproportionality and accountability and culture and then the recommendations so if we go through them you'll see under curriculum instruction we have cultural relevance has been updated in some subject areas this is some of their findings not all the students are taking advantage of higher level AP classes and then for the recommendations developing a comprehensive PD plan develop structures for job embedded PD curriculum leaders building leaders teachers leaders to build capacity is really really important to do this work and continue to revise curriculum with an equity lens disproportionality students with disabilities and African-American black students received more in school and

014out of school suspensions to disrupt that disproportionality engage stakeholders to understand the root causes be strategic about PD and center and deepen embedded udl accountability and culture accountability and monitoring are lacking in some areas monitoring of learning and teaching as well as regular evaluation and feedback were found inconsistent the recommendations around data and Equity goals use student data to inform decisions at all levels districts District strategic plan so that Equity goals and metrics throughout District practices should be transparent implemented with consistency and Fidelity and focus on teacher diversification so as we look at curriculum instruction and District action you know we are really pleased that we have a plan that makes sense the Strategic plan um is again about educating the whole child but when we think about the equity pillar um as a whole

015it really has been part of our late start and our early release um plan um district-wide so myself and Adina have provided professional development before um for our late starts and for our early releases and um so we are definitely embedded in that work um then as well one of the recommendations was embedded PG specifically for um our district leaders so we have myself and um Adina our sort of Justice coach have led PD for our leadership at instructional leadership teams grade level teams and departments and then as we think about curriculum we've been doing a continuous review of curriculum across disciplines at the high school we have an African-American literature class that was offered this year it's a happier course next year it will be offered for a full year and then Milton will

016also be offering the AP African-American studies class next year as we think about disproportionality um in our district actions you know we were really pleased um Adina came on before I did um in January of 2022 um this is through the Jesse Grant um to address the distortionality around discipline and um that that was really something that I think was really smart of the district to hit that head-on oftentimes we are cited for things but then this isn't a response to IT professional development there has been Universal Design for Learning professional development across all levels district-wide and then data analysis um the African-American and black students with communication disability and discipline removals of African-American black students with special education has decreased uh what's what's really important about um having an understanding of the data is

017that you know um again I've been talking about Adina Schechter all evening off and on I've been kind of stinging her Pages throughout the district she has um really been out there doing such amazing work and super super committed um to all the children across the district we're really making sure that this data that we're able to present that we receive results and so without further Ado Regina Schechter average student practice coach yes and so I really tried to be in the school and partner with I partnered with guidance counselors and principals and we are just now at every school a real team and like figuring out how to make sure that every kid is in the classroom learning and if they if they make mistakes like all kids do then we now have a

018process in place we have a flexible set of practices that we are using to resolve conflicts to help kids really Express their their unmet needs because I think that's a language we use a lot kids who are acting out at an unmet need and need to understand what that is and address it and I just feel I do feel proud of to stand up here A year later and just say we have we really have some business school um finally gave us two is an expert in this work talks about how restorative justice often only considered a reactive response so far but it's all but really it's a proactive relational strategy the creative culture of connectivity for all members of community Thrive and feel value I think we all do believe in the schools that

019every single kid should feel valued and as a kid is acting out most likely they need some help in figuring out how to contribute to their school community and so restorative justice is one way I think we've been able to re-engage a lot of those students this is a very important new uh aspect of Massachusetts law so I want to make sure that everyone here knows that on November 8 2022 the Department of Education um revised state law to say that a student shall not be defended or expelled until quote alternative remedy have been employed and their use and results documented alternative remedies might include mediation conflict resolution restored objective and collaborative problem solving we are allowed to suspend a student if the student is unsafe to the school committed to the school Community um

020for specific documentable reason but last year um especially in the middle of the high school if you look at the reasons for suspension a lot of them were not because of unsafe anything that was unsafe it was because of students who were disrupted to the learning community in some way or maybe they you know broke some rule but it doesn't necessarily mean that they were unsafe to go to school for students where we feel that it is unsafe we absolutely will remove a student and the law says we can do so but it is fair this is right now I am doing work with the teachers all the staff at the specialty Pierce and Milton High to figure out how we're going to document these remedies now and the use of powers for our new

021learning management system is going to help us do this so I'm also working one thing that's been great about my position is I feel like I have access to a lot of people at central office so I can think about how to collect data and how to do that do you think the policy at a district level but also really in their classrooms with the kids helping the teachers in the moment I am a classroom teacher that was what that's been my whole career I still consider myself in the classrooms with the kids most of the time figuring out how to keep them there and learning so my position is funded by the state of education department of education and there is an action plan we are accountable as a district that action those are

022all the different aspects of the work that I do that is in that action plan so as I mentioned earlier with the quote about proactive circles um or this that this is a proactive strategy so part of what I do for kids who are having a hard time it is that I have proactive ways of having them in weekly circles during Flex time for peers or during advisory for the high school and we use that time to come together build a community of trust so that when things come up conflict between teachers or peers there's actually a place where they could proactively work out all of those things together so it doesn't escalate into a bigger conflict then when you using a restorative Circle when a conflict comes up they've already used the circle process

023in a way that has built trust in community and they believe in it so then when a conflict comes up we use it to prepare last year I started by leaving all these circles on the phone but then I realized that you know I really wanted to get to know some seniors at the high school and figure out hey I would love to have them start a leading these with me I would love for students to take a bigger role and I was very lucky to meet Ariana Simpson um who I met and we talked for I think an hour when we first met because she was so passionate to do this work and she just jumped on board so during her senior privilege which is the time the seniors get to do things anything

024they need to do I don't know how to use that type of work community service I said how about we use that time for you to come to pierce with me and help lead the circle so Ariana and another student from the high school would come every week help me lose and now she's really leaving the circle from high school and she's really taken it and and ownership company so I invited her here to talk a little bit about the work that's you know am I going to be loud enough um I feel really grateful to be here and I'm gonna try and stick with my friend because there's a lot that I do want to say and I feel like I'm one person standing up here but I feel like I wish I had

025an auditorium full of like every student in this District because I would love to know like feeling value that is something that I cannot emphasize enough I wish I could put myself into little pieces and distribute myself every student in the town of Milton because they need our help they need our love they need our support and they they need to feel like they're hurting their voices right um so with these circles you know it's been in this town my whole entire life um so growing up in it and seeing something if you have a system works and they have to be outside of it standing for yourself to make those choices it all makes sense now to a wider um so with being able to talk with the students that I do each day

026it empowers me not only learn them but to also learn more for myself so I can better help them and not just kind of shove an answer in their face to just satisfy them but to say you know what I don't know where I'm gonna go figure it out you know I've gotten walked away from teachers may not want to tell me the answers but I try and figure it out for them so um I am so happy that I met Claire and Adina because I've always wanted to do this so now that I finally get to be able to walk outside them except for the amazing um there's a lot of like wonderful kids that we need to talk to and the stories they share their their heartening but they're in the truth and

027they're raw and they're uncut but that's something we need to hear thank you and being a young woman of color but she's so committed to her hometown that she's willing to come back she could have walked away but she said you know what I want to come back and I want to continue to do this work and she's willing to learn she's a college student so she is doing this on her free time but she could be doing other things that young college students do so she's coming back and giving back so that's you know we talk about servant leadership that's it right there okay just to wrap up sort of what's in the action plan I also lead professional development um as Claire mentioned earlier I've been able to lead a PD on restorative

028justice now at staff meetings grade level meetings curriculum meetings but uh I do offer after school more intensive courses for teachers and that has been I've added another course there's now part one and part two this year so we're building on that a big project I'm working on with Pierce and Milton pie right now it's doing some handbook revisions that align with the new law so how are we going to document what actions and behaviors um do we know students will do throughout the year and what are the responses what are the responses the first time what are the responses the second time what are the responses the third time and to get very clear on what that flexible set of responses is because it's not um restorative justice is not always this happens and

029then you do this a lot of it depends on what is happening in the content and I think that we are going to continue to meet I have focus groups and different opportunities I'm getting every teacher in both schools to have a voice and a say and what the handbook looks like because I wanted to really live and breathe in the schools in a real way and one-on-one coaching I mean that's really what I do most of the day I'm with teachers I'm with leaders I'm with counselors we are figuring out conflicts in the moment and we are figuring out how to make sure that um you know we don't let anything slide right if a kid is harmed we want to figure out how to make things right and how to repair so that

030is snapshot of the work that's happening and I really do have to say that at this point we have a huge reduction in suspensions this year already so thank you phrases um Adina again has really been committed on the works that she has done with that handbook and that she started that um before I came on board and she has really really just stuck out it's not easy I mean our teachers are overwhelmed and overworked our administrators and overwhelmed and overworked because this is every day it's a challenge but she's been getting in there and really wanting to make sure that our practitioners are really being hurt our administrators this is um this is different work I mean things are shifting the landscape has shifted and it's something that we have to start to understand

031but when we think about that strategic plan personalized learning safe and supportive schools and Equity this is what it's all about and it's really about against shifting that mindset really coming getting away from a deficit and really thinking about a growth mindset and having the will to want to learn with people and I think Adina has really LED this work with that handbook really really really getting in which it's not easy sometimes to go to the some of those meetings not understand and why they have to be part of the process but wanting to be part of the process and really shifting our thinking we don't want disruptions in our classrooms we want again this is a district where you know academic achievement and academic Excellence is really what we're about um but we have

032to make sure we're not leaving anyone behind as we are on that Journey doing it so and again Adina I thank you for all the hard work that you've been doing so as we think about learning loss versus learning opportunities we've thought we've talked a lot about this you know we've talked a lot about the pandemic and this again there's been a shift in the landscape we know there's been um we know there's been some changes but really again thinking about our strategic plan that all three pillars are really rooted in in educating the whole child thinking about data analysis the district has made a huge commitment to data wise we're really proud of the work that we're doing with that and that all of our district leaders are participating in this PD that's really

033focused on clearly formulating learning targets for all students and I think once we start to really understand that um if we can nail down exactly what students need we'll be able to move forward it's it's a marathon it's not a Sprint I was hoping that through the pandemic we would have kind of got that through we would have all kind of embraced that concept that we don't have to rush we want to have a sense of urgency but we have to have a sense of urgency for the appropriate Pace we want to make sure that we're not leaving anyone behind we know that standard space instruction is incredibly important we know what standards children need to have to move on in the trajectory we need to slow it down sometimes just to make sure we

034need to make sure it's personalized we need to make sure everyone has um the the mental health and well-being to actually be able to attend in class and then we want to also think about our Equity length as we're doing it if we can do that I think we'll be on the right track um when we think about mindset again it's about ensuring the students experience is a centered on activities that are personalized and promote that growth mindset and that academic achievement for all students will be really really something that we won't even have to be able to question I think oftentimes we're questioning academic achievement and academic Excellence when we think about these three pillars but the really that's what those three pillars will actually mean if we're doing it all together um succinctly

035um the next section I'm going to go into is the accountability that was um and culture in the district actions so um if you think about the data review We have set metric team goals that are really important for us to set um and to constantly be reviewing School Improvement plans are aligned to our strategic plan with Equity as a through line it's really important as we think about each school has its own Community each school has its own set of data but we are a district so it's really important that all of our data is aligned all of our data action steps are aligned to our strategic plan and that's what our school Improvement plans are showing and then as we think about teacher just diversification which was outlined in our quality review um

036there's certain things that um we know we we need to provide window we need to provide mirrors um that's incredibly important for all of our students it's actually really important for um our practitioners as well to see themselves um so we're really proud of the work that we're doing with um Mass Association of superintendents um the racial Equity diversity and inclusion myself and Gotham participating in that professional development and then we have the center for strategic initiatives um professional development that we're participating in and um this professional development is year-long um Garth and I have spent a great deal of time together um I really want to commend um his commitment much of this work is typically done with the superintendent and the directors of equity inclusion across the state he has jumped right in

037as we have been transitioning throughout this year um and just really willing to kind of take the bull by the horn to say you know I'll jump in I'll do the work with you and really have an understanding of exactly what it means um to have a commitment to equity and what teacher diversification actually looks like so in part of those meetings that we have we have four sessions that we are meeting with mass ready and then we also have um what we call the superintendent and Dei partnership professional learning community and that is a bi-monthly sessions that Garth and I participate in we have um a larger Community it's not really large it's probably about 10 to 15 people but then we have one-on-one coaching where we have coaching together and we also have

038individual coaching and it's incredibly important that we do this work because you know to it you know it's great to have a position to say we have a director of diversity Equity inclusion and belonging but if we don't have a partner in our central office with our superintendent it makes it really difficult to lead this work in the district he's been very very committed so goth I thank you very much give him a hand for his will we want to do this work and then I think about some of our other Partnerships that we have we are involved with the organization Mass partnership for diversity and education mpde and we are also partnering now with um another organization today's students tomorrow's teachers and we receive a fifteen thousand dollar Grant from the state to begin

039to create our own pipeline of of teachers and we talked about Windows we talk about mirrors um the only way that I think we can really start to to work on ourselves is what can we do we've had a future teacher program for some time in Milton but with this partnership with mpde as well as today's students tomorrow's teachers were able to create our own we will in this program what we will do is we will create a cohort in ninth grade and that cohort will move all the way up through college so we will have X amount of ninth graders we're trying to figure out how many we're actually going to have we will have coaching for them they'll have opportunities with professionals so we're actually in the field and then move through 10th

040grade 11 greatest 12th grade they go off to college and hoping that they will major in education and they'll be able to come back and work in Milton or one of the other cohort districts um so this Randolph is involved with this sharing Public Schools is involved in a few other schools not every school district received the grant I'm really fortunate that we were able to qualify for it and so I think it's an exciting opportunity and Prospect for us to again be thinking outside the box and creating our own pipeline of students you know if you think about a young students like Ariana if this would have been a wonderful opportunity it had we had this opportunity when she was in school this might have been something that she would have participated in and

041so we want to make sure that we get students early on um that they can be part of this um process oops and I'm sorry um I also wanted to give you an update on uh data in regards to our work this year around teacher diversification um I know Vivo she presented um our goals um for our teacher diversification data and it was um I think 9.2 I'm sorry 10 of our teachers are teachers of color with 30 of our students of color and we were hoping that we would our goal would be 20 which is technically one teacher annually and I'm pleased to be able to say that we just we looked at our numbers we have hired three teachers of qualified prayer professionals and 25 other support staff across the district this year

042for a total of 33. so we are making some um we've kind of gone beyond our goal um of 20 but we are we're making um I would say small and large gains so you know it's great to see that we have our support staff I'm really happy though to really be able to say that we have three teachers and the five crowd professionals I think that's a huge commitment of the district and we just have to keep at it and um we talk a lot about hiring but it's also about making sure that we can retain teachers of color and a lot of that is again about this work around belonging and making sure that you feel valued and you feel heard and that you are part of the community all right this next

043slide um um this is from the military Coalition Coalition and um some of this data has been you know it's it's data doesn't line and I think we have to you know um look at this and you know 25 of our students at the high school who feel as though they've been treated pooling due to race and ethnicity we have 19 of our students who feel as though they've been treated poorly because of the sexual orientation this is some of the work that we really have to do and focus on we want to make sure that all of our students feel like they belong um what we're doing right now um again we have our sort of um Justice I'm doing proactive coach doing proactive circles um I also want to say some of these

044circles you know they've been circles but there also have some of them have been what I would call Affinity groups so we've um there's a lot of the work that a Dean has been doing but some of the work that Ariana has been doing has really been about Affinity groups really allowing for a platform and a space for students to be able to really be honest and transparent about their experience um where it's not we're not necessarily talking about conflict and resolution um this is happening at the high school where we have high school students who are mentoring students at Pierce and Tucker again our recent graduate we have um Ariana who's been doing this work at Pierce and then we also have a young woman scoop that's led by Mary Bianca one of our

045school adjustment counselors in the afternoons at the high school um what we need to start working on with looking at our next steps is that we're really trying to figure out what can we do about scheduling we realize that we have to prioritize time in a day it is very difficult to get young people to stay after school and um we realize that if we're going to truly be committed to this work if we really believe in our strategic plan that this is something that should be embedded during the day so we need to think about um being more creative with our uh with our scheduling and this is something that we've talked to Karen Cahill about Karen are you there I'm not sure if she's there can we hear you can you hear me

046no we can't hear you either just thought we'd give it a try but Karen has been a great partner in trying to figure out how do we do this it is tricky we have a schedule there's a certain amount of time that we have to have for teaching and learning during the day but I want to emphasize that this Equity work and this work around Affinity groups is part of our learning and so we it cannot be considered something extra this is something that has to be embedded during the day for our students to feel welcome and um you know so we need to continue to do these we sort of um circles that um that are proactive and it needs it really needs to be something that is expanded Beyond just not just with

047personality students and I think this is something that we've Gina and I have been talking about we've been talking about what administration and really all of our building leaders too the work has been so powerful that we've been able to do this is something that we need to expand and then it can't just be about um our at-risk students because many of our students who are not identified are at risk we just don't know again and so some of this is really going to be helpful for them um really proud of what a Dean has been able to do which is going to be piloting a two-week restorative justice class for sixth graders which I think is going to be incredibly powerful I know um Cameron was going to share we've had just recently we

048had students from the high school who shared a presentation at the middle school there's part of our lgbtq plus Community where these students came and shared and did a workshop with our sixth and seventh graders which was amazing and so it was well received and just really proud that the students felt like they were able to do that they had a voice they were able to go to The Prince and say this is something that I want to share you know it was it was something that they were able to work on together and then um present at the middle school and this is something that they've done [Music] and so we're really proud of um of the students you know often students don't feel valued and don't feel like they have a voice so

049it's really nice that they that this um the student was able to actually go um well received wasn't told no let's see what we can do and then again the support that was there for that particular student and so that was um that's fabulous and that leads us into our next piece and we are really fortunate to have one of our parents from calipad um Nina Nina yeah um hi everyone so I am the co-chair for the qualified uh diversity Equity belonging committee and the belonging is uh particularly where I want to focus today um so in uh December December 13th the elementary district-wide event um the led by two facilitators from Deputy the state school program for lgbtq plus students um Jeff perotti and London Callahan in the past um staff uh semester which

050population of Staff in the district I think at least at the elementary level uh Jeff karate had done a training in several years ago and um this past spring when our Dei the committee met we really saw an opportunity to learn together the community and particularly as families uh the fam the family community members that are on the Dei committee at quality um really wanted to come together about an issue that is a national topic it's come up a lot in other school districts and a lot of national news but we wanted to ensure that our students in Milton feel like they came along in school I feel like they are alone they really um get their movement so um we wanted to make sure that that the families and the community around them have

051the information that the staff were getting as well um so after uh we met we met a few times in the spring the event was not the right time at the end of this school year approach so in the fall and as they're joined us uh we really thought more about what it was meant to be and who would should be targeted for and because students at the elementary level eventually go on school at school level but they also learn um mindsets and practices at the elementary level we feel really responsible I'm talking about we at colorcon but that's my experience but we know that the elementary level we're responsible for um shaping students and children's beliefs and um in a way that they feel welcome at school so uh we wanted to invite these

052facilitators in um and let them uh provide information for families on gender and identity and inclusion um so that families would get the same information as the staff had gotten but it's just a piece of it we knew that this was just the beginning of a conversation we know that there's more to go we're already talking in our Dei Community about what the next steps could look like what the intersection between race class and gender identity we know that there's a lot more to go but we wanted this to be a family-led competition you know that the schools are doing so much um and we really appreciate that they have a lot to take on but we also want the community around our students to support them thank you so much and I think what's

053really important to to communicate is that you know this was a community event that was in the evening it wasn't during school but it really did provide people an opportunity to share their experiences we had a Community member from Milton who shared the experience of their of their child transitioning we had another Community member who wasn't from our community but a a parent who shared their experience but what it allowed for were for parents who are in the community who are actually going through some of these transitions with their own children to have a safe place and a platform to talk about it wasn't during the school day this wasn't something that was going to um be disrupting any kind of teaching and learning but you know it's really important for for families to know

054that the schools are there to support them and so I think there was just such a wonderful event we had families who really shared some personal stories and really thankful that their children can come to school and are welcome because of what we are doing in our schools to ensure that every one feels as though they belong I mean I think at the elementary level to see families be able to share those experiences was really really powerful want to thank Nina because she was very instrumental in helping to plan that event um we had 84 families registered we had about I think a little over 50 people who actually participated um lots of positive feedback and so just really glad that we were able to support that event and support their families in the community

055with this with this topic and they did I think um Jeff perrotti and Lenny did a fabulous job in facilitating foreign because um she's part of the Nellie Mae Foundation that's where she that's that's her day job um although did the EIC work that she's been doing it probably has taken up a lot of her time but um she nominated us for a grant so we received a ten thousand dollar Grant thanks to Nina who facilitates some of the work um this it's not easy to to do this work there was a financial commitment that you need to have um I'm an office of one I I'm stealing I'm a Gina from other resources most of the time and um so it's great that we're able to get this money to be able to do

056some great professional development with our teachers in in the district so we're really really excited about that and so you have so I want to thank you if you have more questions you can always reach me at this particular um email um it's deib Milton umps.org and we will open it up for questions thank you thank you um so we we're still wrestling with some of our technical issues tonight um and sound for our uh remote participants is still a challenge for us and and so what I've been advised are we still on to that uh Shane um yeah yeah um right right that was that was a suggestion it's just yeah we could give that a try Janet Janet Sheen are you there or Karen Cahill oh yeah anyone yes I am here thank

057you yes but we can we can hear them oh good that's great oh there are two of me unfortunately I can't hear another movie okay um this is this is now the opportunity for for our community to um if folks would like to um comment or have questions we have um people online and we have people in person um and Stephanie is going to help us moderate in terms of which which people will get called either in person or remote how about if we start uh with in person yeah yeah a deal for how many people wanted to speak sure that sounds great that sounds great so why don't we the first person who would like to speak won't you come on up if you could please introduce yourself and tell us your address thank

058you it's not gone can't hear everything yeah just uh yeah I want you go ahead thank you once proceedings enough question I have is um who is accountable and how are we holding folks accountable specifically I'm curious to know what the new superintendent coming on board what are some of the equity goals that that superintendent will have in you know their own um like you know evaluation plan uh what are we thinking about that and then who else Beyond Claire and Adina are being measured on Equity um across the district in terms of the principals and teachers where do those measures and those um both assessments great question thank you may thank you anybody like to respond well I could respond just um again adino and I we you know I am officer one I'm

059Advocate I say that again is part of my office because you know we sort of practice work and Justice book is so closely aligned to what Equity work um I would say in regards to accountability and really measuring that the school Improvement plans are really important you know we as um as as a leadership we are going through those plans making sure that all the equity goals that are outlined in each individual schools is really closely aligned with the Strategic plan and we are measuring those goals so there are smart goals that are built into those plans and we are looking at that we are constantly looking at the goals that were laid out in our metrics um in in just making sure that we are we are where we are moving the needle again

060it's a marathon it's not going to be a Sprint it is going to take time but we have to be intentional so when you talk about accountability it's really about being intentional and making sure that we are constantly reviewing our data and and making the shifts where we need to necessarily when we see things that are happening we need to act on it and if we don't see Improvement then we need to make a shift um think about that Equity road map it's like the mindset and you're driving it you have to then also be able to reassess and you know switch practices if it's not working if I can answer the project in regards to Dr Burrows who will be coming on I mean there were some Equity questions that were built into his

061um through his um interview in that process but I think the school committee will be able to speak more to you know what will be embedded in his expectations of our recording thank you Claire yes and that that will certainly be you know every year the superintendent has to set goals um and those goals um uh I think what we're what we're talking about um after uh our new superintendent arrives in July that there will be a leadership team um Retreat um sometime in July where they'll set some goals for the district then the school committee will have a retreat in August where we'll also set some goals and these are all goals that we all should be evaluated by um at the and then in early fall the superintendent will um you know clearly

062articulate what his goals are for the year um so there's there's that sort of process being set up right now but I think Claire was was really correct in in talking about the school Improvement plans and all year long we've had had the different site councils from all six of our schools come and report and it really has been heartwarming to us to see how aligned we all are along the pillars of this strategic plan and they are really looking at the data relative to each of the goals and and um are reviewing that data amongst themselves and helping holding all of them accountable for the achievement that we're looking to reach I don't know if anybody else has any through the comments but I think the only thing I would add is that we

063have also as part of the strategic planning process been reflecting on creating more intentional alignment if you will the data is there so we have been developing a dashboard of the Data Tracking that we will be doing to hold ourselves accountable to progress against the plan but perhaps what we haven't done as as clearly as we can and we've been discussing this is sort of creating that through line right so that it becomes very clear uh in terms of those metrics that we will be keeping an eye on to make sure that you know that theory of action that's embedded in the plan it's working and if not then we're going to have to look at it and be like all right every assumption or some of the assumptions are not quite right we have

064to go back to it that's all the the idea of a strategic plan is having to put a stake in the ground say this is what we're going to do and then see if we start moving the needle in the direction that we want to and if not we can go back so we are are thinking of sort of more intentional alignment if you will that it's there and you see it sort of embedded in every plan and that's one of the things that I've been farting about is that every every school has presented that plan and every school leader is holding themselves accountable to make sure that they're moving moving the pieces in the direction based on the framework that we have set for ourselves as a district I've got a financial point of

065view Claire met with the school finance subcommittee and presented a request for additional needs in her department and we have continued to discuss those with her right now they include um an addition a coaching position to spread out in all the schools and also stipends for identify teacher leaders in each of the schools and money for materials of professional development and conferences that we would like to send [Music] our staff to so the school committee voted on that budget including those additions and we voted that two weeks ago and so we now are going before the warrant committee Tuesday evening and then we go from there to discussions with the Town Administrator and then down to town meeting so we're hope we're hoping that some of those positions that Claire's asked looking for and that

066we agree that we need will be included in our budget okay hi I'm going to be really quick my name is Aaron Hardy I have three kids in the district I'm a parent um all public school students and I just want to Echo what what Meg said um I just feel really really hopeful and really really appreciative um I've been involved with others other parents in the town for you know I've lived in the town for 10 years and um a reason I moved to Milton is that I wanted to be part of a community that really um just loved its diversity and understood that equity and Excellence are one and the same and for us to get better and to be a leader in this state and the state is a leader in the

067country that we have to walk the walk and I appreciate your comment about accountability Meg but I also feel this shifting and I'm very hopeful about it where um in addition to accountability there really feels like this teamwork and this investment right we've got the school committee we've got parents we've got staff at all different levels we've got people from all different buildings we've got former students and um that's really what it's going to take for us to be able to fulfill this Vision that we have for our kids and for our community um in addition to the accountability um so I think my question um is mostly about how we as a community of parents and different coalitions in the town um can support this work um we have a lot coming up on

068the horizon with budgets with pending overrides and how do we help as parents to support this work and also to make the comment that you've done an enormous amount of work with the research that you have which are very very stretched so like to be able to help make the case to people in the community to see how much you've leveraged and gotten such an incredible return on the Investments that have already been made which can be expanded upon so just um that's a question that I think a lot of people are ready and willing and interested to help support this work and do what we can as community and Coalition members so thank you you know here that while there might be different views across the town that there are people who value this

069world and what really matters is the vote that the warrant committee and then ultimately our meeting so for those of you whether you are a town meeting member or you have a neighbor that is please reach out to them and encourage them to support this work because it's their vote that's going to make Claire's work our entire communities work a reality so thank you all for coming here sure I'm so glad you got the technology to him and thanks for your patience and and you know like everybody you tell us your name oh I'm sorry Kelly Lawson and 432 Elliott Street I have two boys in the Milton public school right um so like the people who've spoken before I'm incredibly impressed with the work I'm a big believer in inclusion and Equity I think

070it's critically important I think one of the the thing I wanted to raise tonight though is change is really important and I think it's critical but I also in terms of I'm curious what the student voice is having and hearing from Adriana was so helpful to me but how they can make sure we have their social and emotional growth included in that there was something disturbing that happens in the last week I would say that I wanted to raise to the board I didn't know if they were aware there was a um it's called the loss of credit um policy that was added to the Milton High School handbook and it was a situation basically where if you miss a certain number your apps in a certain number of days then I mean there's a

071there's a process for it but and the appeal process is seven days which is fairly short um if you miss a certain amount then you're going to lose the student will lose the credit and what really there's several things about that that Disturbed me and I think are really inconsistent with the principles that we were talking about today with restorative justice with I think a lot of the students who would fall within that would be the most vulnerable students I mean let's face it most of the people here if their kids were in that situation they would be calling the school they would be standing up they would be telling their kids to do the same thing I think there were kids maybe they're missing or they're absent for a variety of reasons maybe they're

072taking siblings to school dropping them off Etc to have this blanket policy and to have this mass email going out to Parents Without Really explanations and to have an assembly in the high school to talk to students about this and to say things like I don't care if you've got an A in this class if you missed this you are still going to lose your credit it will be noted on your transcript that is really undermining I think the social and emotional health of our students and what I found very problematic about the policy from a legal perspective was it talked it actually had expressed language in it that said whether excused or unexcused these absences count towards this lost credit policy you may have students who may have situations and again may not be

073in a situation who knows their parents may not even be in a situation where they understand the documents um that are being sent home about this and that to me I have a hard time seeing how that doesn't violate with the American with disabilities on it so these types of amendments that may be being made to this this Milton high school policy I think it's great everything we can do about equity and inclusion and social emotional well-being is so important but to to put a putative very punitive cost and have additional anxiety for children that they could potentially lose credit and have these things because they may be absent it may be medical issues the school's not aware of and I understand that we're supposed to be ways of which it was being sent out

074or not sent out I also know that those were not they did not go through smoothly with the technology it did not work as appropriately as it was supposed to and I believe that the Educators were very responsive when parents reached out about it but the point is they shouldn't have to this is not a policy that we should be placing on our children these kinds of things have to be thought about like we're talking about we've been educated we've been trained so how are we going to implement the inclusion and that I I think it's great about all the education we've done but I guess I'd like to hear more about how are we really hearing from our students and how they can be brought into this conversation as Ariana was wonderful I mean

075so impressive like it's so great to see are you acting this way and being so empowered and engaged but how do we get others who maybe don't have that self-motivation to be able to speak up about things depends on them um but I do want to say I think from my perspective and just going through the system there's a huge disconnect and I think something that I wanted to verbalize earlier but it didn't come to mind was we're all learning here and I think a quote that I abide by and I told my girls every day I go into the room and the boys it comes with the uncomfortable there's no broker and I think for me growing up having to be a mother for myself in a sense and trying to figure this out

076and and know what things need and translate you know I'm studying law right now so hopefully one day can come back and you know be able to um to be a support and to be one of those people to the younger students but I think there's a disconnect from in this building and then the buildings of Milton high school and other schools around us such as the elementary schools and the middle schools and I think we do a lot of talk but we necessarily don't do a walk and I think students are starting to feel that impact of being uncomfortable not wanting to go to school like not tell you how many times and I have to speak to them and I'm sorry to say this but I go into school and students say I

077don't want to be here I don't want to be here you know I was telling the girls you know there's an emphasis on the physicality of it now having to do the makeup and the hair and all those things all those are beautiful things it's there's a disconnect of why I am here there's no classes well I want to know how to save my money to invest we go through school we have to sign out a loan why is my parents letting me sign out of knowing I have no knowledge about that you know we mentioned earlier about these classes about having knowledge regarding our history and really knowing the truth and the uncomfortable truth and I think there's also uncomfortability within teachers as well it's not necessarily the students so it's also having from

078a teacher's perspective and those of higher power understanding that those teachings that you've learned in the past you have to reiterate them so that they're conducive and prevalent to now so it can be beneficial and if you keep abiding by things you know we can we can bring this back far beyond but we need to see what is in front of us and we need to be we have to have the want to do that and I think as far as holding accountability it's yeah holding the students accountable to gaining feedback from the students asking them being vulnerable to our students too because there's this level of I'm your teacher and I'm your student and that's that's there's no growth in that um and I think taking a step back and as teachers as parents

079just saying how are you doing today what can I do to help you you know what maybe I don't understand and I think as a student I put a huge emphasis on learning and even if I know I don't know you know what I mean um and I think I just want to say that because as administrators support and for us just to stick a huge step back and realize why we're doing this and forget our job title for a second especially in the world and how life is moving as a whole so I feel privileged to be on this room today you know it seems superintendent Chan's hand is up and uh superintendent Chan can you can you hear me yeah yeah oh okay so I don't think Mrs Cahill is still on the

080zoom and um I I don't think it's right that I I speak for her but I I do I do think that she would be fine with me um saying that she will will uh will certainly be very interested in the feedback um on this topic on this policy I'm not really short uh which policy um um our speaker was just referring to um I do want to thank Ariana for her comments and um I will say that we will take a look at that after the assembly a week ago I would just like like you to know that we received some um excellent feedback from our students and parents and Mrs Cahill was certainly listening and uh we we will certainly take a look at that so thank you thank you for your comments

081Renee hello um my name is Renee Wilkinson I have an elementary school student here in Milton um and there's definitely a thread that I'm hearing at this point in the conversation which is um around student voice and that's where my question lies and so I know earlier in the conversation there were notes about handbook edits and it sounded like some of that work is happening with teachers and administrators and many of those good folks but wanted to make sure that there's opportunities for students to have input into whatever [Music] getting their feedback around edits looks like it's really important for that work to happen I think the edits are coming for middle school and high school handbooks but I also have Curiosities of those edits are coming to elementary school handbooks and also um just

082in general a lot of programming does seem at least from like portions that I heard in the presentation there's a lot of middle and high school emphasis but want to make sure um that that's also being relevant and accessible for elementary school students as well um and there was one slide that showed some statistics that were indicating that approximately um 20 of students are saying they've had any unfortunate experiences around either their racial Identity or um or their orientation and it wasn't clear if that was of the entire School population that estimated 20 percent or if it was um percentages of those specific Affinity groupings my guess it's from 20 about 20 percent of the entire School population but it's very important um to get data within those specific subsets of students because ultimately our

083students are going to tell us if we're doing this work well and their voice needs to be included from top to bottom start a little bit by talking about the handbook I'm so glad you brought up student voice because I am going to definitely have I mean I thought about bringing the handbook to different student leadership groups at the high school and the on the middle school as a starting point but um I do I just wanted to the staff really has to buy in to kind of some to the flow of the work and sort of the idea of a restorative discipline policy and part of what I've done is a lot of research on other districts that are doing this at Brookline and like other districts really have these things in place so

084it's I did a lot of research to start and I said here's what other districts are doing like what do we like what do we want to change and that was the starting point and um I do think that we just need the staff the leaders who are actually going to execute a lot of this to at least like okay we buy into this General flow and then get student feedback on more of the kind of okay how would we do this what do you think well you know and and to create more dialogue that way um so that's the first thing the other thing is that I do um I have a lot of elementary school teachers in my professional development and so I do go to especially Tucker and lover because those teachers

085have just decided to sign up for the optional after school professional development I go and I lead circles with them and anyone who reaches out to me right now because I am just one person you know I can't but any teacher in the entire District who reaches out to me if they want me to come and model a circle in their classroom I will be there like within a week and I have told people that so I you know I really am at lover and Tucker a lot because of the the people taking my professional development which is great because then we can actually look at it and practice together in the classroom someone I just went to Tucker today doing a circle with a teacher who's in the professional development she's now going to

086share what she how the whole experience was and um so I but I do so I do think we are expanding opportunities but we need to um and then just lastly I want to make sure I say that once we the focus has been on Middle and High I mean that really is like my state action plan is to reduce suspensions and I'm accountable for that we're accountable for that but my next step and I I feel grateful because I've met with all and worked with all the elementary school principals and I will then I think it's great to have middle and high first because then we can go to elementary and say okay now that you know where this is going like how do we you know really make the bridge how do we

087make sure that this is Elementary appropriate because We're Not Gonna there's certain things like vaping that won't be in the elementary school um handbook not that there are programs I know about to prevent it but it's just obviously they'll need to look different so uh so yeah but I really appreciate all those comments because I just think that those were just really thoughtful important questions and comments so thank you and things you've been thinking about we talk about this often too just in regards to making sure that we have a Common Language and that we have some vertical alignment in this work that's K-12 and making sure that you know um when students arrive at the middle school and and Dean and I truly believe if we can actually get a handle on what we

088want it to look like at the elementary level we will see huge differences at the middle school and the high school because it will be common language we will have school culture we will have district-wide culture that'll be really really important that will be a blue line yeah I appreciate all that feedback and I guess Dr Miranda's Point earlier around through lines um so it's it's good to hear that some teachers from Tucker and Glover are opting in but what are the through lines so that this is comprehensive work that everybody needs to be engaged in and not like an opt-in sort of process yeah no I I have fought for more PD times District wide and actually I I am and the next half I think this is actually just brand new but um

089I I feel like I am getting more and more PD time really yes all the schools it's happening there's momentum building I think with the change in the law that actually really propelled some more time and work because we have to document what we're doing and I mean we are accountable that way so I think I'm really glad you're bringing that up though because it's something that you know Claire and I have been talking a lot about I I think in some ways I have to say though for the first year I'm glad we I could start a little small because we have piloted some things and we know a lot better what works and what doesn't work and so now I feel like I could go to District leaders and say hey like I

090really do want to make sure everyone in the district is trained I mean we just that needs to happen and we now know a little more about what works and doesn't work at all the great levels and we also in terms of even just circle plans and curriculum and we now have a bank of Milton Public Schools like topics around you know lots of different things that that teachers can share and use with each other sometimes you like such a heavy lift but I also think that you know as we think about professional development in our you know our district-wide professional development and I mean goth and I have talked a lot about PD we were able to take 13 practitioners to the medical Directors Association conference which was fabulous that was the first time

091the district has allowed that many teachers to go to participate in a cultural economy PD which is really important so as we think about onboarding new teachers every year what are we going to do do we need to we need to be intentional about what our professional development looks like so that there is continuity consistency across the district um so there's a lot of work that we need to do we know that we want to be transparent about that but I do think we're being intentional and trying to be thoughtful about how do we do that there's a lot that has happened before and it seemed like a check box like we've kind of done the one and done how do we revisit because there's been a lot of training for teachers already how do

092we revisit some of that work which we have been doing in small group through instructional leadership time um common planning time but really some more district-wide kind of PD that's really effective though because you know we don't just want to offer something for the whole district one day virtually that's not going to get it what we need to do and I just quick piece um since we have a lot more people watching here um tonight than we're at our meeting last week um just in speaking of alignment in the through lines just so that everybody knows and we've discussed a little bit the school committee's responsibility to put forward a budget that supports this work policy is our other key responsibility in addition of course to supervising superintendent um and at last week's meeting we

093did our first reading of a revised policy on student discipline so we have this student handbooks at the schools which are really important The Faculty handbooks ultimately it's District policy that sets sort of what everybody is expected to do um Adina shared the new law it's our responsibility as a district of course to always be updating and staying aligned with state law and so we had a good kind of collaborative process over several months to actually be in conversation as a policy subcommittee of the school committee with Claire and Adina and Miss Ellie to just try to make sure that our policies are updated and the student discipline of course is key but that is just one piece and I think there it's part of a broader effort to make sure that our policies support

094our strategic plan where that means we need updates um but you know just to reassure everybody that important stream of work is in process and we'll be doing a second reading of that policy at next week's meeting um and just to really from you know as the chair of policy subcommittee to really thank you all again for your partnership on that um and just recognizing the need to make sure that our policies do work for everybody who's actually putting it into practice thank you and I believe that that Redline policy should be up on our website because it was part of our meeting last week and you know the folks are interested in in checking that out to see the changes that were made they were expensive changes and really quite quite a body of

095warp that was done in apology subcommittee and and um I think very reflective of the things that we've been talking about today sorry Colleen right there please go ahead thank you can everyone hear me okay yeah um tell us your name oh yeah sure Colleen McCarthy town meeting member precinct for um I have three children in Cunningham um I've come to all of these meetings um and if you don't mind I actually prepared something because it's funny I can get up and give presentations in front of 100 clients but when it comes to speaking about my children um it can then to be a little a bit emotional so and really all children in the district so you know I just as they mentioned um I have three children in Cunningham um you know I

096was sitting in on the SAG Council presentation the other day I think um we all would be remiss not to State how um fantastic and um of a presentation Dr Reddin and the team gave there you know they've I think they've done a fabulous job the teachers as well of really implementing our pillars um for some time now and even without strategic direction and you know to be honest and I think it just speaks to the level of talent that we have in our schools um so I'm very very happy and I come here to speak about my children but I also come here to support our teachers because I think what they're doing right now is very very challenging work in a post-pandemic world um where all children all children have lost all families

097have lost um so I just wanted to call out a couple of things um I'm was really grateful to see that Sue miselia joined I know that there was a CPAC meeting that was scheduled around the same time I know it's very difficult with calendars but I really hope that um I want to stress too that you know it's important for the community to hear how children with learning disabilities all children are being looked at um through this less Equity lens um and specifically I would like the school committee and the school leadership to speak to how we Define equity as it relates to all those children who suffered learning loss and who have had learning differences in our school district I know at the end of 2020 for example we identified a need for

098math interventionists this budget was that we looked for the to hire this person and the budget went elsewhere however um you know on the heels of comments that were made recently about desperately needing math interventionists in our district it can't we can't help but Wonder as a community and question how we are prioritizing that inter-early intervention especially in our elementary schools especially in a post-pandemic world and I ask you when I implore you as as a school committee you have to explain to the community how we are prioritizing those early intervention needs for all children and those are not just children on IEPs those are children that whose families were not able to hire private tutors because of socioeconomic situations in their homes during the pandemic that many people in the community were able to

099do we have to think about those children that are you know better you mentioned our said numbers are rising let's catch those kids let's prioritize those children so not only has this led to many in the community to question how our school leadership is prioritizing academic learn and intervention as it relates to equity and education for those children who have learning um differences and delays and my research around equity and education one important component was cited granting students more accesses granting all students more accesses to the resources that can bolster their education this does not only apply to those children that have learning differences and learning disabilities but this should also apply to those High achieving students we want to keep those children engaged when we keep those children engaged in our in our schools

100and challenge we make them feel a part of the school committee Community we don't want to lose those children we don't we don't so we need to think about those children too and what we can give those children so that they feel part of the community can you please cite specific examples of work we have done in this area to make sure to make education more Equitable for children who suffered not only learning loss during the pandemic but those children that are quite frankly bored in the classroom those are children that also are at risk and I ask you to not not discount them we're going to lose them as well we do not want four children in the classroom um before you do answer these questions as we come to the conclusion of this

101series and I appreciate you Dr Miranda for talking about accountability measures but I would really like for you to get into more detail in that with the community how will you measure your success in all of these areas of the pillars what are those accountability measures in place to ensure this strategy is working in five years my children will be in high school I don't have time I want to know now I really do when I think members of the community really need to know now thank you as someone who has worked in business in the private sector for 20 years and I'm not in Academia I don't know Academia but I'm in the private sector I think there's many many of us in Milton that are I personally can't put forth any strategy or

102sell a client anything without having measurable performance objectives and an Roi in place I can't do it no one's going to buy it you are going to ask the town for an override and you're subsequently going to use our tax dollar this word the lower tax dollars of people that don't have children in the school our elderly Community visits everybody you I am asking you as a parent that you hold yourself accountable to the community and very clearly State the ROI and what data you will use to measure your success and the entire Community needs to agree on this because I think we all agree the absolute most important objective to all of us all of us those members on the school committee that have children here is our children's education and their success in

103life I think we all we all agree and I think you know the pillars the pillars I hope work for all and I when we think about equity and education and we think about our learning um difference children and those High Achievers I really really hope we keep we keep them in mind as well and I think that this is something that everyone in the community can agree on so thank you for your time and I apologize I I read off but I wanted to make sure I covered my points so thank you and I know I had a couple of questions in there but you know I think I'm really interested to understand you know how we're tackling learning loss in the work that we're doing how we're prioritizing intervention and what are we

104doing to keep those High Achievers engaged and and and really and and part of feeling a part of the school Community because they're just important they're just as important thank you thank you for your time any of my many members I need to wanna promise to start um I'm happy to get us started I mean I think part of um if you look at our strategic plan I do think that embedded in it it really is talking about all students and you're talking about your you know your high Achievers and your students who need additional support that's exactly what we're trying to do I hear what you're saying in terms of wanting the exact return on investment I wish that education research was sort of at that level right and we could point to study

105after study however we have looked at the data and we've done analysis of a hundred years of data that we looked at actually if I remember correctly uh in terms of looking for instance at the middle school and looking at our tendencies that have been historical of saying you know what you kids right here are Thrive so much and we're going to put you in this High achieving class in this gifted class because you know that's that's what we're going to do for you nothing wrong with that and I must tell you that fortunately I was labeled gifted at the right time that that just changed my attitude it didn't make me learn better it just changed my attitude all of a sudden I saw myself as a student who could learn and now I

106have a PhD it kind of worked right because my framing was different I just learned to see myself differently and that was important but it didn't necessarily help me achieve more it just it just told me that I could learn which was interesting uh but what we're trying to do is making sure that all of our students get that message all of them all of them know that they have potential to learn and that they will get the supports that they need to thrive and to achieve educationally so we are holding ourselves to educational measures to go ahead and say are we being successful and this is why I wanted to make sure that we understood and we pointed to what data points we're going to look at right we're going to look at individual

107growth right our students all of our students are they growing and we're doing this by actually doing assessments right on an ongoing basis and looking at data and making sure that teachers and that our Educators get the support that they need to be able to do and meet students where they're at we're also looking at our students who are learning disabilities we need to do better by them of course we do but in order to do that we need to prepare our Educators we also need to invest and this is what you see and actually it's been a sort of it's been my little soapbox actually in every finance committee meeting to say let let's not just go and be satisfied with status quo right status quo hasn't worked so my argument has been let's

108go by a needs base where are the needs we need a math interventionist at the elementary let's pay for it let's do it let's put it there and let's make it work right because if we don't do it if we don't invest we're not going to get that return I'm with you right like we need to invest in order to get the return if we don't it's not going to happen so we have been able to use sort of that thinking in terms of the the in terms of the budget and if anything if you look at our budget I think anyone can say that our investment in equity right now is low in comparison to everything else so if anyone's worried right that everything's going into something that maybe we have a harder time

109measuring because it's hard to measure you know the progress that we're making against Equity it really is we don't have these very clear data points um but we are sort of thinking that these conversations have come into it and we are thinking of everyone the other part that I would say is that Universal Design learning that's another thing that we're actually training our Educators to make sure that they think about you know and that they're able to and that they're equipped to be able to create classrooms that are a lot more Dynamic right that it's not the way I learned right when I learned it's like you're getting the same lesson either you got it or you didn't and if you didn't too bad and if you have a parent that can pay extra then

110you're going to be okay but if you don't have it then you're not going to be okay right so no that's not the approach we're taking it's very acid-based however I do want to remind us that we're in year one and I understand the urgency of seeing metrics and we are capturing metrics now we do need to be better and I'm hearing of aligning right and showing that through line to the community we're going to work on that that's something we are very aware of yeah yeah yeah the concern is we're looking at data on the back end right like I'm gonna and but I also want to know from a proactive yeah what are we doing so math is intervention one you know do we really have a sense of where our children are

111reading are they reading at grade level what are we going to do with that data to meet them there on the front end right and I think those are the things that you want to think about because everyone everyone is yeah and I do want to tell us that go ahead please but yeah specifically for the response to your questions about data yes in the back of the Strategic plan we will see the metrics they were shared at a school committee meeting last fall along with the formative and summative assessment data so for those of you who are not traditional Educators under the NBA by train formative assessments are data that teachers collect to assess in short periods of time what a child can learn and if they realize from that assessment the child has

112not learned that company the expectation is that there's a routine and that's the idea that you go back to ensure that that student learned what they were meant to us so in addition to our teachers regularly doing these assessments with the tools that we've purchased um I ready um and there's actually a French version of it also so that's one way of capturing data but then there's District live form of Assessments so people at central office can look across School across classroom 15. our students achieving at specific benchmarks throughout the years that data was also shared at the school committee meeting last call so anyone who wants to know how are we measuring outcome whether it's at a district level of school level or what the district goals are according to the Strategic plan it's

113all online everything you're asking for is on the Milton council's website to go to the school committee page and look for past presentation it's all available and if I'm incorrect please you know correct me I believe we already have two math interventions we're looking for a third so at no point did anyone in the middle Public Schools say we have a need but we're going to ignore it the first intervention is in the classroom so if the teacher realizes the child needs something the expectation is they will be the ones to be the tier one if then that student needs something more than what the teacher can provide because in most cases they have 25 kids that's where the intervention so please know I don't believe there's a single teacher to go in public schools

114that we say I have a child that I know is not learning and I will do nothing that's not who we are yeah and I do think it's important that for people who are unaware because you're not traditional Educators it's easier to ask the question Than to Assume the work we have a lot of well-meaning people we're working very hard and work is not easy you don't know what's happening in individual homes that might be interrupting learning but we also know that we have an obligation to deliver the best education we can with what we've had so no point is anyone's having this brand conspiracy not to bring the resources but we do need to vote and one of the things I thank you for is you did show up at those financing needs and

115you did hear that we had two interventions and we need it first vote for it right if you really want to see just get any better we need to vote at the one committee and at town meeting and last for gifted students who are fortunate to have an update on curriculum instruction Dr McKinney was there and so was Brian's Bell and one of the things we learned is happening at least at the high school level is that there's different courses in math based on the ability and interest of the students so if you want extra math we now have AP statistics AP Calculus a b Calculus BC they're launching a pre-calculus AP course first ever in the country in Milton high school so we we have probably more AP classes than any other Suburban public

116school system we've also made environments in new curriculum and that curriculum offers differentiation so if you can go beyond the curriculum the materials are online if you want to slow down for a child you can do that too but it's very valuable that we all know this so when someone says to you why is my not my child not getting this excellent opportunity you can say did you put them in an instant class again because the opportunities are there but I do think there's Mutual responsibility the teachers might recommend your child to that class but you can also put the child in your class on your own we don't have we don't have a minimum requirement to take these rigorous courses it's up to the parent but if you don't know you can't take advantage

117of it so I encourage you to look at the program of studies for high school and you'll see all this information there it's online at the Republican website so with that said I want to make sure that people leave here knowing that if you have a question or you need more information the vast majority is available at your fingertips reach out now I just one more comment before I get up I think that while that information is great that it's online I think it would be very helpful as a recommendation to push it out push it out to the community what's that it was all shared push it out email there's a lot of people busy parents might not have the time to go out they don't know where to go to look for it

118uh just a suggestion I'm not I go on and look at it but I don't know if most of my community does coming in one of the things that um you know he probably was going to help us think about is sort of how do we communicate better how do we you know I hate to use the word market but really it's sort of making sure that that information is getting out in a way that's digestible I get it you know it's not always something that you can quickly sort of take in and understand so we will we we are thinking about that um and how we can do a better job so I hear you and thank you excuse me nobody at home can hear you because you're not at a microphone you can't

119do that you can't be heard by the people at home I'm sorry if you're not at the table of the microphone so I'm sorry just it's not fair to everybody else who's listening um I'm sorry yeah yeah I think I think that that's yeah we've gone we've gone long because of the delays at the beginning but you know looking at the time I think I think this this do would be terrific thank you so welcome back and watch uh I am a student at Cunningham and a student at Pierce um and an identifying um Dei I feel that is one group that is directly under represented that's our Asian Community um particularly this week Lunar New Year nothing was coming for them um we've had Asian Paint like the recent events that have happened last

120week and now when you look at these scores they're decreasing so grade five grade eight science they went down to percent in grade 10 Ela they're down six percent now if you read the equity report they are just as uncomfortable and feel unsafe in the schools as the Latino students um these students they were the only group that was zero percent that ever had a weapon brought a weapon to school they don't have fights at the school and yet nothing is being done to represent the Asian community and I I how can we be inclusive if we completely disregard a very very significant demographic in our area so I just want to know what's going to be done to address the decline in our Asian students performance because this has never happened and if you

121look historically and I've gone through the years that they have been the highest performers that we have in our schools and now we see a decrease that's not good so if we're going to be inclusive and focus on all of these groups we need to start engaging the Asian community and figuring out how to do that so what can we do as a community to address us and and bring it to the Forefront so they also feel comfortable because in speaking I I have a lot of Asian friends in my neighborhood they don't feel comfortable approaching us or approaching the subject so I'm I feel I'm doing it for them right now because they are underrepresented thank you thank you Megan I want to I would just indicate in regards to to the data we

122we have viewed the data and there are metrics for that to address that we do so in the metrics report um it's being addressed how we need to improve that data because yes they're the only subgroup that did decline during um yeah so it that actually uh so all other groups have increased so again the Dei my company is 20 year I completely support it but I don't think with that all inclusive and I really think we need to look at the groups that are now filled such as our bad students are high to high achieving everyone we need it we have this holistic approach everyone should feel comfortable and they don't that's it's not happening so we have a lot more work to do to engage everything I think we try to be really

123transparent that we do this is a marathon it's not a Sprint we have work to do across the entire District every subgroup has been identified in the metrics report and there are goals for every from the forums that are taking place in the school are only LBGTQ and um black and brown sure um I'm a colicott and Lunar New Year is a month-long celebration in our school and all of the students and teachers um celebrated they bring home the Red Envelope um less depends on them for an envelope and it's like a huge point of Celebration because the Asian population is increasing so much in Calicut and we actually as a Dei committee looked at the data this fall and of course saw the same data and we also have a as a committee have

124been talking about what we can do to be more inclusive of the ever increasing like by the month population Asian and population in the school and we've involved staff and students in this as well we've invited the students in to share their traditions and their holidays so that they can feel that they're welcome to be themselves I know that's not that's like just the beginning but it is just I wouldn't say it's a blankets that went across the district that there in the Lord but I know that everything is okay so there were teachers no um took time on their day to teach the students about it but nothing at the middle school wasn't addressed at all and that's just that so if I if I can just add I think bringing an equity and

125learning lens to the work allows us to have exactly this conversation you know and really be able to say you know are we being inclusive of all groups and let's name it let's look at the data disaggregate it and not look just or you know sort of at the aggregate but really let's look at subgroups and let's think about it and let's find out what's going on and what's happening I can tell you that this is the first year the latinx heritage month was recognized in the schools and in the district but it came it was prompted by an email that actually my husband wrote Because my daughter said nothing's being said and she's you know half Salvadoran and so I was like no no no all right we're going to write an email and

126we're gonna say something right and then all of a sudden she's preparing this big old presentation on her own because she wants everybody to know what buses are right she wants people to know what her favorite food is and why it's so yummy but I'm I'm glad that she felt like comfortable and able to do this but it's something to say that again we're in year one of our implementation but it is allowing us to have the hard dialogue of saying how can we do better how can we show up for all of our students so definitely I think uh definitely that's been my experience at the Cunningham my daughter's taking Mandarin and I love it um and so it's been great um so I think we need to just continue to think about how

127do we continue to make inclusive spaces that it's inclusive them all so I'm being used as a analogy that Dei is like a puzzle and the corner pieces the borders and all the pieces in the middle are essential in order to form that puzzle so I I just really think that we need to yeah take a hard look at being really yeah and Megan I think one of the other things that I would sort of just say that it's it's hard to do but sometimes it's like we get into these conversations like it's them and us there's this other intent it just happens it's sort of like this natural human tendency to do but I think by creating it and lifting it up as something that we're committed to we're going to be able to

128have these conversations and say it's not either or it's not the pie is only so big right it's no it's like we need to make sure that we are being Equitable on proms and just my daughter she's afraid to call anyone anything so she doesn't I'll say oh who are you talking about and she clams up because she's afraid that she's going to say something wrong she doesn't know what to say and that's bad too I mean these kids have no clue they are so afraid of offending someone that they just shut down and that's why this work is so important right yeah so that we have adults that are not dealing with that right adults are like no it's good it's great I know how to talk to everybody and that's great but that's

129the work that we're doing that's what we're investing in I think that's why this work I think we need to realize that it's all of us together as a community and how critical it is because we want adults that actually you know what show they're going to do better than us I just know they are you know foreign but this is the start we're all here in this room together it's so nice to see so many people I've been in this room with like three people here before so to see this is a big start and I think what we can do going forward is have these conversations I want to hear from you and hear from you and we might not always agree but the point is we're what's so good about all of

130us in this room is that we care about our children right there's no doubt right and I have to say I was at the Pierce players uh play this weekend for state fair and I recognize a few parents here that we're also there and I would like to say I was so impressed to see Asian kids my Indian daughter you know black and brown students white students they were all there and they put on a phenomenal prison like performance and they did it day after day and it was so impressive and that's what we need to give them opportunity to do is come together put on a show and it was amazing and highlight the positivities yes absolutely but this is so great I am so glad that we're working towards being inclusive I want

131to celebrate all holidays I my daughter was in a book club the other day she said hey you know there was a student in the class who didn't know what where India was you know and so it's important right I think we should we should be celebrating Diwali we should be celebrating holy in the spring we should be celebrating all of these holidays and I think we should give parents opportunities to come and volunteer I think we there are plenty of opportunities I know you mentioned Colleen mentioned Dr redden's presentation last week their parents coming in and volunteering at the elementary schools we need to do that in middle school too they're still our kids right we're still involved let's give them opportunity these I'm sure parents will come in and volunteer I'm happy to

132come in you know I will and I think we need to do more of that it's we are still involved we're still their parents we want to be involved and we cannot do anything if all of us don't come together so thank you thank you we've got our last question my name is Jen Irby Leggett and I live at 312 Fairmount Ave and um I have a son in college who went to the Milton public schools and a non-binary senior who is at the high school um I just wanted to um say how unbelievably grateful I am that this this work is being done I support it wholeheartedly I think my experience in Milton has been one where my kids have often come home and said things that happen in school that um were very

133upsetting to them um that uh were the results of unconscious bias by teachers by policies that didn't work um and uh I've often raised those those voices in those incidents to principles you know and it's just been unclear how those things have been responded to in a lot of ways this is such a great start I think and I just want to say I wholeheartedly support that if it takes an override to I mean we shouldn't be fighting between a math specialist and Dei So like um that's just absurd so um uh and you know to me it's the office of equity that would be making sure that Diwali is celebrated and that Asian students Heritage is honored and so it has to be a bigger office um I've talked to both of you about

134the work that you've been doing there has to be more it can't just be the two of you and um and all your partners um and so I really support any increase in funding for this it has to be multi-year it has to be ongoing and Milton needs this so badly I'm also a very proud member of the Milton anti-racist Coalition and we also can't just just count on that group to to push us forward everyone has to get involved in this and the other thing that I wanted to ask is um I also hope that there's that all teachers and all staff in the district are being required to do some anti-bias or learning about unconscious bias um ongoing training because I think it is those small comments that happen that make uh um

135black student feel unwelcome or someone who lives with their grandmother or my non-binary teenager Who Loved going to do that presentation at the middle school but half the time can't pee at the high school because the non-binary bathrooms are locked because someone's using it for homework or smoking and I mean I think again that's the through line right and so if we can expand your um hours in the day in the school buildings to have this influence on everybody um then it's just part of the fabric versus like when something terrible happens and so um I I support that wholeheartedly I will you know I'm gonna try to get on time meeting again and all those other things but um I just want to thank you all for for this work and like it's a

136great start we got to keep going and we have to do it forever because otherwise we just will not be making any kind of a difference and the difference needs to be made so thank you thank you a great a great statement to end our session on and thank you so much everyone for coming out tonight and those at home thank you for joining us and um please do keep in touch and um there'll be multiple steps along the way this spring where we'll need your support and we really hope we'll see you again so thank you everyone good night thank you okay