001audience. Great. And for those of us sitting here at the table, just a reminder to be a little bit louder. All right. So, getting right down to business. Um, we'll take a look at minutes. And I would entertain a motion to approve the meeting minutes of December 18th, 2025 as >> motion by Pang, second by Peter. Any questions or comments on those minutes? >> Seeing none, all in favor? >> I opposed. Abstained. and I say yes. So that is unanimous. We also have bills and payroll and I would accept a motion to accept the bills and payroll warrants as presented. >> Motion by Danielle. >> Second by Peter. Any questions or comments on those? No. Seeing none, all in favor? Abstain. And I say yes. So that is unanimous. Our student representative is not here
002this evening and unfortunately uh tees was also unavailable due to illness and so we are going to start with the narroans middle school sit update and so I welcome you to come and join us here at the table and I you're very famous but remind every yes please please sit um >> just remind everyone who you are and then we are eager to jump in. >> I'm Michelle Landry. I'm the interim principal of Naransson Middle School. >> My name is Rick Booth. I'm the interim assistant principal for the middle school. >> Excellent. We're going to give you a little bit of an overview. It's been a great year so far at the middle school. Um we were very fortunate to be welcomed by an amazing staff and a great bunch of students who have been
003helpful and welcoming to us. So it's been a really great start to the year. Um we had kind of you know coming from the high school there's been a few learning curves you know along the way. Um the biggest one was that I wasn't really used to being hugged by fifth graders. They got out of their cars in the morning. Um but I have to say I've come to that's come to be really honestly like one of the most enjoyable parts of the day. Um so it's been really great. So, we're just going to we're just going to highlight some of our student outcomes in some of our initiatives that we've really been focusing on this year. Um, first and foremost is the decrease in number of students failing one or more classes per quarter.
004Um, we obviously don't have quarter 2 data quite yet. We will have it next week. But what we did is we looked at our quarter 1 data of students failing one or more classes compared to last year and we are at a 25% decrease in the number of students. Um we attribute that to a two to a couple of factors. We've really spent a lot of time wanting to um improve our pre-t process with teachers during the CPT meetings. So Mr. Booth has worked really closely with Laura Amrosie, our school adjustment counselor, and our grade level teachers to really have those pre-t meetings on a regular basis. Really get in there at the beginning of the year to look at students who we really had some academic concerns, also behavioral concerns, but more academic concerns
005about um to come up with some tier one supports that we could try to support them in the classroom. Another ask questions. You have a pre what meeting? >> Preet teacher. >> Okay. And you also have CPT. Can you just We have home school teachers. Help us understand acronyms. >> I know a lot of acronyms decode language. We have we appreciate it. >> So grade level teachers have their common planning time meetings. So they'll have three of those during the week. And that is time where they discuss students, they discuss academics, they discuss behavior, um they plan events within their grade level team. But um periodically it's a more formal process called the pre-t which stands for teacher assistant team. And that's when Mr. booth along with Miss Ambrosie, the school adjustment counselor, are in
006there to really focus on specific students who they are really concerned about if multiple subject areas to really kind of talk about what's going on with the student and then coming up with those supports to try to help improve. If they then they meet back periodically and then when they are feeling like it's really these tier one supports really aren't working then we will have a full tap meeting where we include the same group of people but in addition with the parents there. So, we have really focused this year on trying to get parents in right at the beginning of the school year instead of waiting for we did this long before grades closed because we really didn't want to wait that long when we're seeing especially students who are coming from fifth grade and
007transitioning into the middle school. We didn't want to wait. So, we really did focus on getting parents in right at the beginning of the year. For example, for the fall conferences that we had, um, we asked each grade level to give us a list of students whose parents they really wanted to see because a lot of times, you know, you see those parents come in and, you know, there's no concerns and, you know, it's great, but you when you really want to see those parents, that's what we want to get in there. So, we made phone calls to each and every one of those families and planned and got them in for a group meeting during those conferences. And we really think that that really uh also helps make the difference. >> Okay. No, thank
008you. >> Yeah. Um another uh student outcome is our 5% increase in the percentage of students at or above grade level in reading and math using the STAR assessment. So we implemented a few we kind of took some you know things that we had done in the high school and tried them out in the middle school which was goal setting star goal setting. So, we really what we wanted to do was have the students feel like this the STAR assessment means a little bit more than oh, it's just that test that we take three times a year and I don't even know how I scored or what I did. So, we really wanted to like go dig deep and have students really understand that. So, teachers, the ELA teachers and the math teachers sat down
009with each and every student and they use the parent report to explain their scores to them. The parent report is the easiest to understand which is why it goes home to parents. It makes sense. Uh it has like a little scale at the top and it shows you where you scored and there's, you know, below and at and above. So it's really easy for them to understand and so the teachers took those benchmarks, district benchmarks and really set goals with the students. So that's something that they did and they're going to be doing again this week um because the second round of the middle of the year start assessment opened up today. Um so we also shared individual student data with parents. So those those parent reports those went home to the families. Uh and
010then we shared our schoolwide data um via our weekly member. Uh we decided again to try contests. Pontests always get kids excited about doing something. So, we did what we had done in the high school, which is if your scaled score on both assessments rose by one point or more, your name got entered into a raffle um for gift cards. So, the kids were really excited about that. We're we're we're starting the second round. We're kind of upping it this time. So, if your scaled score increases by five points or more, then your name will get entered in the raffle. And then also we're giving individual prizes for each grade level for reading and math who have made the most improvement. The one students we're only going to celebrate those. It's an easy way to
011celebrate and kids like especially when they're getting um and we do our glow of stars where kids if they have the room they get their name on a star and they have those posted. So we're going to do that in this fall. Thank you mom. Um, why are you ordering this one? Um, so when we looked at our beginning of the year star assessment data, excuse me, for for reading, we saw 67.7% of our students were at or above the district benchmark for proficiency. We saw 71.7% of our students scoring at or above typical growth. For mathematics, we saw 58.7% of our students at or above district benchmark. And then 64.3% of our students scored at or above typical growth in mathematics. Um you know as school leaders we certainly want to raise the bar
012for our students and we want to see these numbers increase year after year. But we are very pleased currently with our students performance and growth. Um and I think a testament to some of the things that we're doing and trying to motivate students to participate do their best in these assessments and not just you know um take it as seriously as we want them to. So I think that's helping and certainly what we're seeing right now is is is popped. Um so you know when we look at the gap too I think we have an opportunity here to really focus on this area of improvement with our students with disabilities. Um you can see the data here all of our students where they're scoring percentage- wise and where our students with disabilities are scoring. And
013you you know you can see there's a gap there. Um, so this is a great opportunity for us to really raise the bar and close those gaps for our students with disabilities. Um, and how are we going to do that? Well, we can do that in a variety of ways, but through universal design for learning. Um, can we have professional development um, based around this our our first PD session of the year? Um and more recently we've been working with teachers to look at assessment data and see where those students are scoring and coming up with you know tier one supports which are core supports for for students and then students who are further behind. We can use tier 2 interventions and that would look like a more specific plan for students and teachers can
014do that in a variety of ways. Some of it might be smaller groups in their classrooms, some of it could be the full class, some of it could be individualized for specific students. Um, so you know, we're looking to to increase those numbers if you close the gaps for our students with disabilities. >> One of our initiatives is really strengthening our learning environment and fostering that high expectation for students. Um, we really want to have students take ownership. That learner agency is what we're really we've spent some time during our professional development. Focusing on learner agency, focusing on students taking ownership for learning. Um in one way we what initiative that came out of one of those professional developments was schoolwide goal setting. So we started our schoolwide goal setting um just due to the
015time of year it was we used our interim reports and each student grade levels discussed how they wanted to introduce it to the students. Everyone had everyone had it done a little bit differently. Um but the key components were really talking about why do we set goals? How why are they important? What is a smart goal look like? And then importantly like how are we going to monitor that we're do we don't want to set a goal for interim and then not look at it again until report cards come out. So how often are we going to take time to monitor our goals? So we started that this year. Um, as we already said, we did goal setting using the STAR math data. And then to model setting goals, we had our we have our
016schoolwide attendance goal. So, in quarter 1, our attendance was 96.3%. So, we wanted to we wanted to raise the bar on that. Of course, we shot for 100%. Well, um, December came along and the flu season hit us pretty hard. Um, so our overall average right now is 93.7. We're hoping January is going to bump us up a little bit. We're hoping. But it's a really an opportunity to share the data with students and say, you know what, you don't always meet your goal, right? And what why didn't we meet our goal? Well, December was tough for students or think about how many of you were out sick. So that it it's actually a learning process. even though I don't think we're going to meet our goal, it's okay because we're going to talk about
017it and then we're going to set a new goal. And I think that's the learning process that that we're trying to model for them. Uh so strengthening our school culture has really been something that Mr. Booth and I have been focusing on um since the summer. You know, there were some great programs and and initiatives and things already in place in the middle school, but what we really wanted was to have some opportunities for students to be involved in something other than being on a sports team or being in the student council. So, we wanted to just create fun opportunities for kids to have to to come to school, to be with their friends, to be social, and to have some fun. So, that was another thing we really focused on. Uh, and you can't
018go wrong with ice cream. So, we figured that was better for everybody in its definitely worked. Um, so we had our our fifth grade open house of orientation. Uh, and we just we scooped a lot of ice, >> a lot of >> and families came out. I mean, I I want to say we had nearly 95% of our fifth grade families come in, which was wonderful. Me being in, you know, my first year here, it was great to meet those students and families before school started. That was a wonderful opportunity for me personally, but I I hope that um our families got a great, you know, great opportunity there to meet everybody and meet their teachers and to get around the school. Um so that was a really fun night. It Oh, wait. Go ahead.
019That's yours. >> Um so we also, you know, did some grade five and grade six movie matinea. So right after school, you know, couple of hours, some freshly popped popcorn filling the air. It was really just like a great way. And what we also did is we we're like Mr. um Mr. Young and I have discussed since the beginning of the year trying to find ways to like partner the middle school and the high school together, trying to find ways that we can do things together. So the high school volunteer club was amazing. They came for the grade five movie and for the grade six movie. They sold snacks, but it was really it was a great afternoon, especially for the fifth graders. you know, they were there with their own money and it was
020probably the first time they were ever going to a movie without a parent or a guardian with them and they got sick wherever they wanted and it doesn't sound like a lot for a fifth grader. It really was a lot. It was they just loved it. They had such a great time. So, that was just such an easy thing. So, we did that with the sixth grade as well. Um, like I said, the the high school volunteer club came too. It was great. >> So, we also we had an anti-bullying spirit week. I know this has been something that the school has done in the past. Um we tried to kind of to build it up even more and we had something going on every day. We had a challenge as well for students. Um
021you can see on the bottom, you know, so Monday through Friday we had different challenges. Um students got into this, they loved it. Um and I think the more students as the week went on, the more participation we saw. So you know, Monday was kind of pe kids were feeling it out. And then as the week went on, um, we really culminated this with our laser light show, which was awesome. I think my hearing is still kind of hurting from that because when you get, you know, 350 middle schoolers in an auditorium, um, >> they singing at the top of their lungs. >> It was like definitely, but it was wonderful. They had such a great time. Um, the the company that came in to do the light show was incredible. Um, and you know,
022obviously the theme was anti-bullying. and the theme was how to how to speak up for yourself, how to advocate for yourself and for your friends when you see something or hear something that's that is considered bullying. So that was great. >> So another thing that Mr. Booth and I did is we put out a suggestion box at the beginning of the year. Well, that was fun. So um we did do some of the suggestions that they had. I my favorite one was a schoolwide hideandsek game which I think would be fabulous. But um we focused in on the two fifth grade teams who really wanted to start their own club. And so we had two girls knew how to croch crochet and the rest of them didn't and they all wanted to learn. And then
023we had one student who was advocating for his book club. Um so yeah, so they meet every other Tuesday and they do their thing and I just literally sit there and they I don't do anything. They just run their own club. So it's a great opportunity. Another fun thing that they do. It's just uh uh with the high school um we also did um Warriorfest student council um ran a booth this year for Warrior Fest. So it was like another thing that we're trying to do just to include the students with the high school students whenever possible. That was a fun day. I wasn't really imagining that the darts were going to be actual real darts for the dart game, but it all worked out fine. Um it was a little conserved at first, but
024it was fine. It was fine. They had a big enough target. >> Um, so we want to give a shout out to our sports teams. Now, um, our cheerleaders have been crushing it. They pretty much come home with the trophy at every event they go to. Um, Midwatch champs again. So, shout out to our cheerleaders. We have our undefeated girls field hockey team. Um, so I think the future is very bright for these girls because they're going to be competing against the same schools and same uh, you know, grades. And I think when they get to in high school, watch out. Um, they're going to be bringing home some trophies, too. Our boys soccer team uh was 49 and one this year. We had our girls soccer team. They had another really good record. Um,
025and I got to make a comment about this picture. It was epic. And you know, if you're an opposing team, you don't want to face this team, are they? I get it. I got to give credit with credit >> especially the two coaches. >> Yeah. You're not going to mess up. So, um we had a football team with a five and three season. A solid solid season for the for the boys >> and our middle school band performance at the winter concert. I think that was my favorite event of the year. Um if you were there, the the energy that the middle schoolers brought to this concert was epic. Um they were so excited for the high school students to play. We literally had to tell them to like simmer down because they were so
026excited for them. So that was a really great night. And then last week we had um again working with the high school we had our grade seven and eight semiformal snowy white dance. Um yes Erin you can jump in if you'd like to. It was a it was a fun night. Um, it was definitely the first time that many of these students have ever been first of all dressed up for the semiformal and then at a dance. So, it was really cute. The first hour they pretty much got snacks and we're all standing in corners just like what do we do now? So, I'm going to dance. I'm not going to be the first person to dance. But, as you can see from the pictures as the night went along um they did loosen up
027and got out there and danced and had a great night. So, it was it was a great night. And then look at things to come. Again, working with the high school, we're going to have our National Junior Honor Society um back this year. We're going to have an induction ceremony for those. Those um applications go out next week for that because we're closing. And we're going to have uh we're looking forward to our bridge ceremony for grade seven. Anybody have any questions? >> No. These are it honestly this it's always one of my favorite meetings when we actually get to hear from schools and what's happening because you know we get so involved in in budgets and all these other demands placed on school committee that it's really nice to take a moment to step
028back and remember why we do the work we do which is so that you all can do the great work that you do um and really bring these experiences home for our students. I know. Um I have a middle schooler and an elementary schooler. No, no high schooler yet. Um so and they just speak so high. I mean I was telling Dr. C that with flu going around in December. I was like, "Well, if you don't want to go to like the last day of school before break, maybe you want to stay home." They were both like, "No, we have to go to school. There's great things happening. We want to be at school." And I was like, "Okay. you know, when you're when you have kids that are asking to go to school rather
029than stay home, that's a pretty amazing thing. So, thank you for all that you're doing. >> Thank you. >> All right, welcome our next victims, I mean visitors. to the table. >> No problem. >> Just connecting to the Zoom. Good. Keep going. Just testimonies. And just a reminder to introduce yourself as you get started. Sure. >> All right. There we go. Hi everyone. Colobby Young, principal Naransit Regional High School. Aaron >> Oay interim assistant principal baseball this year. So before we we begin, I'll just say for the record, I was not given a time limit. Usually I have a time limit. It would be a mistake and I don't think anyone has been asked me to speak up. I've never been accused of being put in contract >> turn. Anyway, as you know, we we
030we really love this night. Um it's a celebration of our students and staff. Um it's also a thank you um to you all for the support you've given us and um and it's basically also charting the course forward according to our school improvement plan um in terms of you know what we're proud of and also areas that you know if we're being very honest we need to continue to grow um in these areas. So you know tonight we're going to celebrate um our students and staff and and look at areas of ongoing uh school improvement. Um, and so really, you know, when we think about what a high school is, and you see some, you know, some photos here. Um, I will point out the one in the upper right is my favorite. I think
031it says a lot about our staff and our community. It's hard to see cuz we watermarked it, but it was covered in the Gardener news. That is Steve Babino, 40 years, the Narroansit uh football announcer. Um, and so on the night of his stepping down from the booth, he took a photo uh with the varsity team after a big win and they were all fired up and they still took the time to meet with Mr. Babino. Um, and so when we think about what a high school is, you know, it's about a safe creating a safe educational environment. Um, it's about promoting academic excellence. It's about celebrating our differences as people. Um, and it's really first and foremost about uh, you know, cultivating caring and cooperative relationships. Uh so we'll lead off with sort of
032like uh a lot of what the core of a high school is as well is promoting the events. I believe it's been said by the middle school slide architect behind the camera that you know one of our jobs is to create the memories that we all have as adults that we look back on. Um so we take that very seriously. So Miss OD is going to talk about some of those things. I think culture and community is something we definitely strive for and I think even though we're a small school, we offer a lot. Um we put on a lot for our students. Um whether it is like the welcome back bingo first day getting everyone together. Um hyped about coming back. We run pep rallies, you know, before homecoming or before the Thanksgiving Day
033game and getting everybody together in the gym, teachers, students competing in relays. Um, Warriorfest continues to run strong, more food trucks than ever, more vendors. Um, we moved it down to the baseball field this year as well as utilizing that upper lot. Um, so just really growing bigger and better every year. That's a shout out really. like VLC is um I think VLC helps us really and I'm looking at a um Lauren Powette. It really does help us bleed the blue and white um at the high school with the number of events that are put on. Um, and Col's going to kind of talk about other ways that we're going to kind of fill the middle of the year, but I think we think about right now so many of the events that we put
034on are really beginning of the year and then end of the year when we think prom, when we think prom safety and now we have some ideas to kind of like move forward to fill some of the winter months. So, Colobe, I'll let you talk about those plans. >> Yeah, thank you. You know, I mentioned creating memories and of course that's important too, but I think what Miss ODay is alluding to is, you know, these events are important because they're also protective of our students, right? They, you know, if our students are connected to a mentor, if they're passionate about a class, if they're passionate about a club, then we know that we've got them. They're psychologically safe. They can thrive in the school environment. So, these events are are are not just about positive
035culture, but they're also about safeguarding our students. So, one of the things that we've noticed over the years, and you know, we live in New England, so weather is the real deal around here. Um, it makes us hearty, but it also makes it a little challenging to put on events during the winter time. So, we do a great job bookending what we do for our students during the fall, you know, with homecoming, with Warrior Fest. Um, we put on, you know, so many senior events and events for upper classmen and all students toward the end of the year and of course athletics throughout the year. But we really do have a little bit of a of a of a glut during the the the winter. And so one of the things that we've been very
036intentional about and Miss Landry and Mr. Booth mentioned this is trying to really make sure that our winter months when we are in the you know there's less sunlight and you know we're really um we're really promoting um you know activities for students. So Miss Landry and Mr. Booth mentioned that collaboration that we had the seventh and eighth grade semiformal. Um, we're also putting on, and I don't want to spoil too much because I am aware I'm on camera, but we are putting on a basketball homecoming this year, uh, because we have such strong attendance at our football games, right? We also want the other sports to, you know, enjoy that fan participation. Um, and of course, filming the gym is is a major event. And so, one thing that BLC is putting on in
037addition to the basketball homecoming this year is a roller skate glow night. All right. And this year, um, so that's think roller rings. So, if anyone has those roller skates, you're welcome to buy a ticket. Um, I'm looking at a couple of you that I sense are like, if I had those roller skates. Um, and you know, again, it is about the wintertime keeping students really connected to the fabric of the school. And as Miss Landry mentioned, and I think you'll hear from Miss Ras Muen and and Miss Smith, you know, we have enjoyed tremendous collaboration with the other schools. And you know, we'll talk at the end. It's not just about supporting the, you know, the elementary school and the middle school. It adds to the fabric of the high school. Um, and you
038know, what we're really after here, you know, at our athletics nights, which were hugely, you know, popular with with families, is it really gets students excited about being, you know, Naragansa Warriors and and and, you know, being part of like the entire culture of what it is to be an NRSD student. So, Eron, uh, Miss Oak Day is going to lead you through, we're going to get a little nitty-gritty with some of our growth areas, um, and some of our alignment. And so, one of the biggest things we've undertaken this fall is our NEASK review as part of our denial and, um, cycle. And Mod is going to go ahead and explain that. >> So, we had a visit uh, early November. We had six visiting team members come out. They spent two days here
039talking to teachers, talking to other staff members, talking to students. Um they came into classrooms, really took a look at what are we doing here at Naraganset prior to the visiting team coming out. We wrote a report. We submitted the report. It was reviewed. and really what the team was looking for. Does the report match what we're seeing here the dayto-day at Naransit and really what we what we found is we had an honest report. Um what we said in the report matched what they told us we kind of needed to focus on um as they were leaving. So we need to continue work with curriculum maps. we need to begin looking at what is our portrait of a worry, what does that look like and then continue to use data to inform learning and
040instruction in the classroom. Um, but the one thing the big takeaway that they wanted everyone to hear is that for a small school, we definitely have a lot offer a lot um for our students and also that really we care about our students. um they felt a really strong sense of culture and community um being here for the two days talking with students, teachers, really like immersing themselves in what we're doing. So that was a nice takeaway. So these days NAS accreditation is not necessarily a common thing. So if you were to take a tour around local area schools, not all are accredited. So we are one of the few schools that are accredited locally and as Miss OD mentioned you know these visitors were from Connecticut all around New England and they could very
041well be from schools with um significantly more resources bigger schools different you know cultures etc. So it's an honest review from folks that are outsiders really taking a hard look at our school. Um, and the nice thing about it is that we really um we we are who who we think we are, right? There were no surprises and that's really validating because of course we work hard and we solicit the input of our staff and community, but sometimes you don't really know until you have folks from outside saying, "Yes, we're seeing similar things um to what you are seeing." Um so we were excited about that. So to kind of delve in um to what is in our school improvement plan that aligns of course to our strategic initiatives and then what NIAS also noticed
042um are sort of you know if you look at the top of our slides I will not reread them to you um but we do have an um you know an initiative of course um to revise our curricula. So over the last couple years what we've been engaged in is last year really as you know focused on u universal design for learning so UDL. So we really have taken a multi-year intentional approach to basically making our lessons effective um so that teachers are teaching to all learners, right? Uh learners can own that and they have multiple access points and getting those skills and understandings for our staff and our teachers to bring them to students. Now we're making them visible and really mapping them out in our curriculum map work which is also aligned to
043our school improvement plan and then also what NAS noticed right um so the idea is you know if you look at the center of our diagram here the number one way to make a school effective is the day-to-day teaching the collective efficacy of teachers so we know this this is a thing that school schools know so our professional development and our work moving ahead is really of of course focus on that and that work is ongoing uh literally as we speak. So one thing we're also excited about Miss OD mentioned this portrait of a warrior and you know there are schools that have a vision of a graduate or a portrait of a learner. These are becoming more common and of course the state as as some of you know you know they they are
044pushing this as well the state of Massachusetts. So, um, as a couple districts are doing, we have decided to embrace this along with the district as a district-wide initiative. So, while we're doing the work of making our lessons accessible to all students, we're really soliciting the input of our community members. So, you all may have noticed over the last week and a half or so, surveys have gone out to our community members, and that's just not our families, that those are our higher education partners, those are industry partners. Basically, anyone who has a stake in Narrogance at Regional High School students, we want to hear from them so we can take that feedback into consideration, you know, when we're when we're revising our learning. So, that really aligns to our initiatives for engaging our community.
045And we do expect to have um you know, hundreds of responses and we will absolutely be making time available for all our students to take this survey as well. So, you know, kind of um if we're looking at in respect to all of this, how are we doing? And I don't think I can enlarge this. So, I'll sort of talk you through it. Uh you all have invested in us over the years and we appreciate in really eight different structures um that some of which you know well. So, the pre-tap meetings, you know, those teacher assistant teams meetings. Um so just remind everyone those are grade level meetings where teachers are talking about how they can support all students. Um also the meetings with families and more concentrated meetings through the teacher assistant meetings. Also
046our project lead the way courses which are hands-on applied learning. So those are classes that have you know like labs as crime scenes and students are learning about science. So applied learning hands-on learning are therapeutic study right? So you all know the thrive program. Um, so if a student is outplaced or they need support coming back in a therapeutic setting, we've got a program for that. Right? If students need vocational technical training, now of course we have the MVP program in partnership with Monty Tech and of course Fitchburg and Gardner, right? So now we have vocational uh uh uh coursework for our students. Again, our early college program, which of course, you know, and that's been highly visible where students can earn college credits free of of charge. And I'm, you know, aware I'm talking
047with our community members as well to make sure they're aware. And of course, you're aware, uh, we've mentioned before and we're going to talk a little bit about our academic coaching program, which is kind of where we're going to drill down a little bit here tonight, which is, okay, so we have all these programs, right? What happens when students are struggling because we know that we have some that are struggling. What do we do? Okay. Um, and so what these programs have done for us is to just give you one quick number. We've reduced our failures from men with last year to the beginning of this year by 4%. Which is of course an initiative. We still have a lot of work uh you know to do. Um but reducing our students that are struggling
048to pass classes is of course important to us, right? And what we know um is that we're really well aligned. You're familiar with our SIP. You're familiar with our DSP. Um and we just reviewed uh NEAS. Um so we feel very confident that in every direction from central office to the school to what others are seeing we really are pulling in a really focused and unified way to support our students. So we're going to talk you through kind of an area that exemplifies um and you saw this a little bit with the with the middle school as well how we'll really focus in that direction. So, similar to what the middle school presented, these are this is our star data uh for the beginning of the year for all of our students. And then if
049you were pull if you were to pull out our students on IEPs out of those numbers and look at them independently, you can see the top line is all of our students that are at or above the benchmark where they should be. And our students that are not on IEPs, that's the second row. So if I'm reading left to right 78 75 87 and so on and so forth and then you see a a big differential with our students with disabilities so our students on IEPs right so that you see that tracks at both the you know in reading and in math so this is very much highlighted in our SIP that we need to look not only at supporting all students but we need to take a really intentional look at how specifically we're
050supporting students with disabilities. Now, the one thing I do want to say about this um as a proud principal um but really earnestly, right? Sometimes I spend my Friday nights seriously looking at accountability data from around the state. So, if you don't do that on Friday nights, you know, that's fine. Um we get it. I understand. Um my wife actually likes it. She's like, "Oh, you're looking at accountability data. That's great. I get to watch my programs. But, you know, we do that because we really want to know how do we do it in respect to others, right? And one thing if you take a tour around the state is schools across Massachusetts, it's the commissioner's one of his number one priorities, right? They are struggling to figure this out. And so in that sense,
051Narroance Regional High School is not atypical in any way, shape, or form, but we're we're narrowans. You know, we can figure this out and we can support these students. And so, make no mistake about it. We we've got a plan, and this is kind of where we're leaning in. So, Miss OD is going to to walk you through this. So we've identified that we have, you know, students with disabilities or we have these chronically low performing students, meaning students that from year to year when we're tracking the data, um, they appear to be in this lowest performing group. So taking a look at those students and taking a look at their schedules, a lot of these students are in some of our intervention programs, whether they're in an academic coaching or they're in a learning
052skills class. So the question became, how can we use the intervention that's in place to begin to remediate some of these skills that they need to catch them up so that they're with their peers? Um, so what we are working on is we've identified who those students are. We've identified that they have an intervention in place and now we've created lessons. So, we've looked at what are the standards that they are not up to speed with and we've created lessons to basically kind of target that standard, help students catch up and we're going to push those lessons into the academic coaching and the learning skills classes um remedial lessons to get those kids, you know, back on course, catch them up so that they're with their peers. So we are very close to being you
053know what the state would call a school of substantial growth right so that's that's our target right we want to get better substantially for our students and we have all of these programs that we ran you know these eight different structures um in place beyond the trying to strengthen the core instruction right we have all these programs so we're very much you know, our SIP is aimed at really leveraging the these programs and making sure that they're working for all of our students. So, you're going to, you know, the high school is going to continue to innovate. You're going to hear about some new things we'll talk about at the end. Um, but we are very much, you know, focused on trying to make the structures that we have work for students and sort of
054pull everything, you know, because we want it to be a great experience for all for all students. Um and so we feel like we can do it right. The work is hard. Um schools are grappling with it across the state. But the good news is you know NIA ask our SIP and our DSIP curriculum mapping and UDL and understanding by design that we're doing you know the lesson building to curriculum mapping. You know these things can help can help us get there. Additionally we're going to be really leaning into our community through this portrait of a warrior and setting up for our students and our community what does it mean? you know what's our vision for who our warriors are so that we have a collective vision of what that is and we can all
055drive toward it and then we are going to specifically look at these groups of students that we talked about so as you know I'm find fond of giving you some numbers that maybe you haven't seen I think I do this every year so there is no military flyover this year um maybe there will be you know we know people army people specifically Dr. past man. Um but um you know we we'll end with these and and hopefully this um hopefully this puts some wind in your sales and and it's a big thank you. So you've supported the MVP program. You should know that we have 100% enrollment in our Massachusetts vocational partnership program. Um GAP day remember that event where we have organizations from all around. We have police by our community organizations. We have
05614 or 50 vendors. Miss Lions is the real architect behind that gap. That's all about safeguarding students during prom and graduation season. We're now in our fifth year of gap day. We've always had prom safety day to be to be clear, but the scale of it haven't seen elsewhere. That's a credit to Miss Lions and a credit to all of our community partners. Um we'll message that out swing by on a gap day and school committee members and community members. It's pretty special. Warrior Fest. You know, it's hard to count the gate at Warriorfest, but a thousand give or take at least. It feels like six years of Warrior Fest putting on this event, you know. Um that's Varsity Letterman's Club. That's Miss OD. Um because of the FET family. Um we gave out 14
057Thank you for approving our Washington DC program. Again, uh the school district gave out 14 scholarships to our eighth graders going to Washington DC to learn about our civics and our government and just be invested citizens. That's the first year we have given out scholarships of this type for the DC program. Um this stat is pretty staggering. Our early college program, you all know it's successful, >> but we offer 528 credits free of charge to students. M so if you do the math on what that is financially for families that's thousands of dollars in 528 credits that these families are getting you know the opportunities um every year. >> Lastly thank you for approving the Italy program NRHS in Italy program. So we had a call earlier this this week and um the stat is
058actually higher. we had a hundred families sign up to get information >> and as of tonight we had 20 families already signed up from that program. >> So the interest is pretty staggering. Um it's something that clearly the community has been waiting for and we feel like we have a really strong game plan for making this part of the menu of you know opportunities like immersive learning opportunities for our students. And the last one is my favorite. Um so at the concert that middle school uh mentioned um so first off the collaboration between the schools has been really outstanding and we had full house if you were at that concert and that is as much to do with the middle school because they had so many students there and they were absolutely fanning out like
059Miss Landry said and we had to tell them to simmer down absolutely and part of me was like I love it keep going right But Tom Salvador remarked and again this is much credit to the middle school performers in his entirety of his career and remember he's played you know with the Navy band and everything. He remarked that that was the first standing ovation he can recall ever getting here. So so to end it one standing ovation for the 2025 uh holiday concert. So we'll open it up to questions but thank you to the school committee and our community more widely for supporting us. We're fiercely proud of what we do. We're also honest about where we've got to grow. Um, you know, we're going to keep going for it. And thanks for protecting, you
060know, our programming because part of it is we need home spaces for students. We need places where they can land. And if we have those places, we're going to be successful and they're going to thrive. So, thanks very much. >> Any questions? >> I just want to say thank you very much for your enthusiasm. It gets me excited. We'll see you at the roller skate. >> Roller skating. I used to go roller skating. Where are they going to roller skate? In the gym. >> Yes, we're bringing out a floor. So, if you're worried about the gym floor, we're bringing out a floor to protect the gym floor. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, that's where >> that sounds. >> And that's going to actually be open to all of the schools. So, we're going to have times
061release of when students can participate so that the high schoolers aren't dominating the floor space when the tees, you know. So, we're really excited. We haven't done something like this in recent memory. So, we're we're excited. Yeah. >> And have the people be there to do a light show and everything, too. >> Close six. The whole nine yards. Yeah. >> Sounds great. >> Yeah. >> You can sell tickets, not talk to Cas. >> I got a bad meal. Oh, there excuse the bed. >> He got hurt in the don't take up warrior fashion participating. >> No, thank you very much for coming in. We really I know that this makes for a later night for I mean you guys do high school sports and stuff so really this is mild but you know we really
062appreciate you coming in and taking the time to put this together. It's again it it is just an excellent time to celebrate um you know there's there's a lot of work to get done in school committee um but this really brings us the joy piece of it um and so yeah thank you for not only the joy for the school committee but joy for your students as well we really appreciate the culture that you cultivate and I have to tell you there's um folks will not many folks are like yay you're on school committee that's amazing but when people sit down and talk to about like why do you do this and I said I don't think you I so the the thing that I discovered when I started school committee is how deeply everyone
063in this in these buildings cares about students and and to be part of that culture is really amazing and so thank you for helping to build that really appreciate you thank you You're looking at our agenda. Um I'm assuming we do not need any public input for this evening. Um unless you wanted to say something, Mr. Bennett. >> No. All set. All right. >> I said I would be quiet. So >> I did. Um and NDEA um is not present this evening. Obviously, we will go right into our budget update starting with MSBA. Um, so just for folks information, um, Templeton um, did vote yes um, for the budget and so it is the Philipsson vote is today. It's tonight. If you haven't gone out to vote yet, it's right now it's still open. Um,
064so I'm hearing good things about numbers of folks that are voting. Um, so you know, thank you to everyone who got out and made sure that their voice was heard. I know it's tough to make time for a single ballot question. Um, but it's really important to the school district. Um, and so we really appreciate um you getting out there and getting that done. Um, so we will we will have more results after um those ballots close this evening. Um, and I will hand it over FY26. Um, we're holding our own our bottom line isn't quite as high as I would like it to be this time, but we're doing okay child services last year and non and FY27 we've started started to look at numbers but just pulling things together waiting for if you
065want to talk a little bit about what we heard from the state and what we're waiting on from insurance that would be great. Um yeah so insurance I have it estimated at 15%. Um they're supposed to sometime in February look at those numbers and make a decision hopefully. Um it's bad all around for insurance. I was wondering um Maya has like between 20 to 25% increase coming their way. Um so if I have 15% maybe I'll be happy to do that. Maybe that's better than what it would be. I I don't know. Um I really wanted it to be more like didn't want it to but um we'll see what that comes in as. Um, and the I'm waiting on one of our like group insurance assessments for our retirees. I got one of our
066numbers which was just shy of 10%. Um, and the other one I have budgeted at 10%. Hopefully it comes in within that and stuff. So hopefully we'll know by the end of the month. Yeah. couple of weeks and then if the state will reduce their numbers the end of January. So I mean we we're not expecting to um have any excess chapter 70 because our enrollment has decreased so we'll be held harmless. Um so we just see what they do with everything else. Um, and just as a reminder, in uh two weeks at our next school committee meeting, it's a little bit off schedule, but we wanted to make sure the school committee had a chance to take a look at some initial numbers. They won't be fully 51 cuz we won't have had everything
067from well, we'll either be just getting hit with the state's numbers or they'll be coming in just after that. So, we're uh we'll be taking a look at those initial numbers together in advance of the uh multi-board meeting and that is the following week that first week in February. So, just setting setting some expectations there. Um and yeah, so we'll be looking more at that. Um and then business managers report anything out and that's kind of >> Yeah, it's all there. Okay. um municipal representative. Um just an update for folks. Um that meeting did happen on January 6 and uh Templeton um town uh town administrator, did I get it? Yes. Town administrator James Ryan um will be um sitting with us. So, how that works is once we get into negotiations with UFCW, um
068there is a municipal representative from one of the towns that will join us for executive sessions where we talk through updates that are happening with the progress of those negotiations. And then they will have be one vote of nine as opposed to the typical vote of eight that we have. And so they join us for that final vote for the contract. Um so that's that's the the role that they play. So, executive sessions for updates. Um, so it's just the folks who um are on that subcommittee that sit in the actual negotiations. The municipal representative joins us for the school committee executive sessions and then it's there for the final vote. Um, curriculum and instruction update. Did you have anything you needed to share? I know that we had sort of talked about it's really
069was about the schools today. All right. Thank you. I mean, you know, I walk through. >> I mean, resist. I resist. Um, and then surplus items, none this evening to go through. Um, there are some items on here, but I'm guessing that those are just left over from this time. Okay. And then, Dr. C, I will send it over to you, your superintendent report. >> Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. So, just a couple things. Um, you know, this is the time of the year that really the budget we we kick off. Um, we're starting to figure out once we get the numbers from the state, which they say with the 26th, she has to release them by the 29th. So, um, we should have them in the next couple weeks. The inflation factor will
070also be released next week, probably January 22nd, I think. So, you know, so a lot of those a lot of those numbers will start falling into place. And as Ambry said, we're really just waiting on the insurance number um you know to to really be able to lock in and see you know where we go. I think that the um we have the chairs meeting at least once a month. I think that's a great opportunity for us to kind of talk through some things before you know kind of everything gets moving. So, you know, we had a good discussion um about this week because God so long ago >> um on Monday and we'll continue to have those conversations. Um want to talk about enrollment just a little bit. So, you know, as we've discussed,
071um, we're we're roughly 70 75 students lower enrolled than the year before. And 30 plus of that 70 some odd number was kindergarten. We were 30 34 35 at that moment in time, lower than we normally have. So, um, you know, as I discussed before, you never know if that's a trend or is it just a blip, you know, where we we're consistently seeing, you know, around close to in the '9s. I want to say 100, but not always, but in the high 80s, low 90s. So we um we looked into the uh the census report and it would and it indicates that there are 90 plus um well kindergarteners to me um that are living at least in Ton and so you know that that really is a very good indicator that we're going
072to see those numbers you know right back up to where we are um where we used to now not every single kindergartener that lives both towns come um to Naragans but over 90% of them do so um in any event we you know that's that's what we're looking into and like I when I have the report I'll talk about year over year month um but that's an important thing uh because as we talk about budget we talk about funding we talk about space um that's going to uh play a pretty big part of this year and we think early next year uh in the school year because the Templeton um pardon me the Ballville housing will come online somewhere I think early to late um fall from what I can understand. We are great communication
073with the town of Templeton, the town administrator um James Ryan about, you know, where can we access that information when um uh when those families are selected. So we have as a good idea or as early as possible that the number of you know number of kids and the ages because where they where they if they pull in a certain grade or school um it creates different problems. So we want to try to be, you know, as proactive as possible and we are. So as soon as that information starts to be known, we won't know names, but we'll know ages of of kids and that's truthfully all we are interested at this point um in terms of early indicators. So we're always looking to do um to do more with that and more to come,
074I guess. Uh it so when we right before the Christmas break uh the holiday break I I'm going to share with you now that I was very concerned um about the health the physical health of not only of our students and staff. Um we were seeing some incredibly high numbers for flu name it name it we don't even know what it was. It was just a lot. And we were seeing some pretty high numbers. They were affecting entire grades. We're talking about the elementary grades, especially um some of those teachers haven't been out in a year. We were seeing, you know, entire grades of teachers being out for a couple days. So, we got we were close um we were close in terms of capacity and just getting through um just getting through the week.
075So, we left sick. Uh the good news is we came back very healthy. So, thus far, unlock I guess this is plastic, but we've come back um very very healthy. Um and you know, want to thank the custodial crew for that because they really had to do some deep cleaning during the break and um the misting and all of those things will continue to happen where when needed. So, I just want to a shout out to the custodial crew um who just do a ton of great work, but they they keep these buildings clean and help tamp down hopefully um any type of, you know, major outbreak of ick um if nothing else. We're in the middle of our of well, we're in the middle of our middle of the year assessments. That's pretty much
076what everyone is doing at this point in some form or another. So we'll probably have that to actually talk about next or maybe you think >> hopefully. >> Yeah, maybe. So we'll have a good educator. Um then um just uh you know you saw some great presentations by the middle in high school and uh which I was listening to all this it made me reflect one of my very first in my first year we had me ask uh which was 10 years um and they you know they reported on it wasn't such a great measure chaotic at that time it was just a lot and I just remember sitting at this table and they just took turns just telling us what we weren't doing right. Which, you know, you know, it it frustrated me because
077it really wasn't a good feeling for a bunch of people who don't know this community to come in and just just rattle off a bunch of things you're not doing well in comparison to maybe districts that, you know, have a lot going on. It kind of scarred me a bit to be honest with you. So, when we went through the through the uh the exercise this year, um they clearly have changed their tact um clearly because they're really looking for wins. They're looking um to celebrate those things a little bit more. They're going to tell you what you need to improve and those areas were clear. But the one thing that they were I I don't know, Molly was there with me. They were just you in their they they almost thought it was a
078set in terms of how positively the kids spoke about and I'm not this is true that they they could not believe that they were just speaking so positively not only the teachers in the school they felt safe there were all these things and every time they would ask this question they felt this and I have to tell you I think I really just drowned out everything else um you know all the things that you know that we need to improve on or whatever because for me just and Well, other than Ann Marie and Susan 10 years ago and I mean of course, but we we didn't receive all that kind of information. We didn't we didn't receive that type of information 10 years ago. It wasn't it was like ah and so I was just
079really just it was it was a good feeling to hear that everywhere they turned they found someone who liked what was going on in terms of high school. It's not easy to appease a bunch of high school kids. I just want to make sure that we we are all clear on that for those of us who know. Um, so here's my takeaway. U, so I was down at the elementary and I told him I was going to talk about them a little bit. We have a picture, but I've got a we got a few things that we have to do to the picture cuz I promised I would post it. So I was in Mrs. Lynch's first grade class and they were teaching me about E will be. So I'm going to tell you something,
080right? So, Miss Lynch asked, "Can someone say, you know, tell our test what we learned last week, you know, yesterday about this word have site word have and and so everybody raised their hand, but the one person who was called on said um asked me, "Do you know why this is the word have or why you know why the E is at the word of heaven?" And I I didn't know. I said, "Well, no." And she says, "Because there is no word in the English language that ends in V." So I looked at this child and said, "I've been in school a long time. I had no idea that that was a word." And I challenge many people to tell me that they knew that now that there were other letters in the alphabet that
081the words don't end in in the English language. But the fact that they were just looking at me like you didn't know that. And I said and I did not. And so a little boy said to me, "Well, aren't you supposed to be teaching us stuff?" And I said, "I am." Um, but what we're learning here is that we can learn. But so my point of st and they taught me more rules. They had a lot of rules but um but what I'm getting to is that the depth that that our elementary and all our students are learning now it in any level. It it dwarfs any of us in here back when we were learn. They are learning not just like have and you go I guess that's how I say it. They're learning
082the reason why. Um and they are really getting into depth. And I'll tell you these first graders were really proud to let me know. And as I was leaving, another hand went up and said, "Can we tell you about some other rules you don't have?" >> No. Um, I just wanted just one very was very cute, you had a great interaction, but they were just so very proud. And I want to tell you the teachers are doing a great job teaching some highlevel concepts that probably many of us did not learn in the first grade at that level. And so I I want to shout out to um not only just Miss Lynch's group, but of course the first grade, second grade, all the grades there. But I did promise that I was going to
083bring this up at the school committee meeting and post their picture because they had to show me that. So um with that, I will just simply add that we are right on three students below we were the month before. Um you know, we've seen es and flows. We're currently at 1380. We're 1383. um you know last month that'll change every month as it does and um that will do it. >> Any questions on any of the topics that Dr. C presented on? >> Okay. >> So, we have no items not anticipated. So, I'll open it up for school committee comments. All right. We're all we we made all the comments we needed to make. Um all right, so the finance and facilities, we didn't have our meeting on the 8th. Um so just, you know,
084kind of getting back into the grind on things. Um definitely, you know, just a quick overview of what we already covered tonight. MSBA, you know, things that are coming in and impacting the budget. Um you know, all those important topics. Um am I missing anything? or Sylvia, I think I covered it all. Yeah. Okay. >> Um, strict operations. Um, we did not have a meeting this month so far because I forgot to post enough time to allow um for it to be mostly 48 hours before the meeting. Um, I did learn something from the experience though. It's always important to learn from it. I cannot trust myself to remember to post. So, I have about 18 alarms now to make sure the agenda with enough time. So, we're either going to reschedule or um just
085jam out. >> Um labor management committee. Um we're kind of in a holding pattern there at the moment. Um we're trying to get those UFCW negotiations going. Um be really the WEC meeting. Um and then um LMC has not had a meeting yet this year. Road. No topics have been brought to our attention either. So, um, I'm assuming things are going fine there. Bill is the CPAC leaison, so we will move past that. Sean is the PTO liaison, so we'll move past that. So, student advisory council, any updates for us, Peter? Okay. >> No updates. >> All right. Uh, legislation. Anything for No, nothing for the night. Okay. Um, we have no correspondence to review. Our next meeting, as we were talking about earlier, is Thursday, January 29th at 5:30. And again, reminder to my
086fellow school committee members, that is an initial night to start talking about budget. Um, just for those of you who were not on school committee last year, the first time everyone had sort of seen pieces of the budget last year was at the multi-board meeting. And so the request was made, hey, we really we'd like to see these things in advance of multi-board meeting. And so now we have a dedicated school committee meeting to make sure that we get that in. And then of course um I know that um TEES would like an opportunity to present their um their SIP updates to us. So we will certainly make some time for that in addition to the budget piece. But those are the core pieces of >> those will be the two core pieces of business
087and any anything else will be relatively quick. >> We do not need executive session this evening. >> Um and as such I would entertain a motion to a jerk. So >> before we adjourn, I would just like one point um voting in Philips till 8:00 p.m. >> Oh, thank you so much. >> Great. And I heard Hank say moved to adjourn. Do I have a second? Second. >> All in favor? >> Thank you very much everyone. We appreciate your time this evening.