001Recording in progress. >> Okay. Uh welcome to the list of school committee. Um call the meeting to order. If you can please stand for the uh pledge of allegiance followed by the national anthem. I stand. Oh, say can [singing] you see by the dawn early light so proudly [singing] we held at the twilight last gleaming whose bright stripes and [singing] bright stars through the barless fight or the ramparts [singing] We watch. We're so gallently streaming and the rock is clear. The bombs bursting [singing] in gave proof through the night that our flag [singing] was still there. Oh, say does that star [singing] spangle man for the [singing] land of the free [music] and [singing] the home of the brave. Do a roll call. >> Member Alvarez. >> Member Biania >> here. >> Member Bernenda >>
002here. >> Member Guadiola >> here. >> Vice Chair Johnson >> here. >> Member Mailman >> here. >> Member McCulla >> here. >> Member Roy >> here. >> Mayor Penny >> here. We have the uh student advisory um with us tonight. You want to introduce yourselves again and what school you're from? >> So, my name is Arson and I'm from Worcester Technical High School and I'm currently a junior. >> My name is Michael Gilles. Um I'm a senior at Gerald Kremer Center. >> Hi, my name is Inira Bonu and I'm from North High and I'm currently a junior. Hi, my name is Ivonne Roberts. I go to Burncoat High School and I'm currently a senior. >> Okay, thank you. Uh we have the executive uh session votes in open session pursuant to action taken executive session
003on November 20th. It is moved to ratify the side of agreement between the Worester School Committee, the Massachusetts Labors District Council for behalf of the Wister Public School employees, local 272 of the Labors International Union of North America, AFL CIO, custodian, the utility, crew, senior custodian. Pursuant to action taken executive session November 20th, 2025, it is moved to ratify the memorandum agreement between the Massachusetts Laborers District Council for behalf of the WIS Public Service Employees Local Union 272 of the Labor International Union of North America AFL CIO custodians for the period July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2026. In pursuing to action taken executive session November 20th, 2025, it is moved to ratify the memorandum agreement between the Massachusetts Labor District Council for behalf of the list of public service employees local union 272 of
004the labors international union of North America AFL CIO Educational Secretaries for the period July 1st 2025 through June 30th 2026. Take those collectively on the roll call. >> Member Alvarez. Member Vanceria. >> Yes. >> Member Venenda. >> Yes. >> Member Guardiola. >> Yes. >> Vice Chair Johnson. Yes. >> Member mailman. >> Yes. >> Member McCulla. >> Yes. >> Member Roy. >> Yes. >> Mayor Petty. >> Yes. Consent agenda is approve on a roll call. >> Member Alvarez. Member Biancia. >> Yes. >> Member Bernenda. >> Yes. >> Member Guardiola. >> Yes. >> Vice Chair Johnson. >> Yes. >> Member Mailman. >> Yes. >> Member McCulla? >> Yes. >> Member Roy? >> Yes. >> Mayor Penny? >> Yes. [snorts] And we have the held items. Uh the items will be considered together. We can take those collectively
005and uh motion is to approve and file a roll call. >> Member Alvarez. Member Biancia. >> Yes. >> Member Bernenda. >> Yes. >> Member Guardiola. >> Yes. >> Vice Chair Johnson. >> Yes. >> Member Mailman. >> Yes. >> Member McCulla. >> Yes. >> Member Roy. >> Yes. >> Mayor Penny. >> Yes. >> Recognitions. Public comment. Any member of the public may address the committee regarding any before them for two minutes. position your names the residents and item number. >> Good evening. My name is Dina Teddeski. I'm a Worcester resident. I'm also the parent of a Worcester public school graduate and a current eighth grader. My comments this evening are in reference to ROS 5-16 under the impact and growth segment of the presentation. It is key that we strengthen social and emotional learning. This is
006critical for our students on all levels. Our scholars are educators. Giving them both this as a team is essential. These best tools are these are the best tools we can give them for their educational success as was as well as support for forward momentum. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Okay. We'll close that part out of the meeting. What's that? We have the report of the super What's that? >> We have the uh report of the superintendent ROS 5-16 vision to action uh the quadrant teams. Uh Mr. Superintendent Sland, >> thank you through the chair. Uh we're pleased to invite the executive directors up again um this week to discuss an overview of our district quadrant teams. Um the QT model provides direct support in a variety of disciplines to their quadrant schools and
007the most critical role we believe that the district plays in supporting schools is providing necessary resources, people, time, and materials. With limited resources the QT model is the best way to distribute needed support throughout the district. In my one-on-one conversations with building principles this year, they've expressed appreciation of the Q team role, and many said they need to expand these teams in the future. I'm going to uh kick this off uh I think first to Will Foley to get us going. >> Mr. Foley >> through the chair. Thank you, Mr. Allen. Good evening. Tonight, we are pleased to share an update on the work, impact, and future of the quadrant teams or Q teams here in the Wor public schools. Our goal tonight is to walk you through how Q teams have evolved from a
008structural concept into a vehicle for school improvement, student achievement, and equity across our schools. Q teams are also a key lever in assisting schools and the district in meeting the superintendent's student achievement goal as well as achieving the instructional priorities identified in the district instructional improvement plan that was discussed in a prior report of the superintendent. To ground our conversation, we always return to the strategic plan. As you know, this plan is our roadmap. While Q teams touch on every single one of the five pillars from supporting talent to improving culture and climate, our work is most deeply rooted in the first priority, equitable resources and educational programs. Q teams are the vehicle we use to ensure that equitable resources aren't just a phrase on paper but a reality in our schools. Q teams are
009the mechanism that delivers support where it is needed most. Under the priority of equitable resources and educational programs, the district has made a specific commitment to develop an equitable systematic approach to educational programming. We are focused on three specific aims here. Consistency, ensuring that all students, regardless of grade level or school they attend, receive the same highquality instructional experience every day as every other student in the district. Agency, expanding opportunities so learners can choose their own paths and future readiness, preparing students for an evolving world. Q teams were designed specifically to systematize on an equitable basis the manner in which schools across the district receive support which in direct alignment with which is in direct alignment with the superintendent's guiding principles around unified leadership. Speaking of the superintendent's guiding principles, historically central office departments often
010operated in silos. Special education worked here, multilingual education worked there. And this goes for climate and culture as well as innovation. Q teams have worked to break those silos and bring key members by bringing key members of those departments together onto one team sitting at the same table looking at the same data to serve schools in a holistic manner. That is unified leadership and action. This brings us to our operating mantra leading with purpose and delivering results. Q teams do not just visit schools. Every interaction, every walkthrough and every coaching session is purposeful and aimed at delivering measurable result for measurable results for students. This is very evident in the data captured relative to the use of our walkthrough tool and collaborative teaming protocol data. Our objectives for this evening are first we will provide
011an overview of where Q teams stand today as we move through year three of implementation. Second, we will dig into the impact. What difference is this actually making in classrooms? And finally, we'll share our future vision for how this model will continue to evolve [snorts] and strengthen our district. It is my pleasure now to pass the presentation on to Dr. Tatum. Good evening. I'm going to provide a brief review of how and why Q teams were created in the West Public Schools. During the 2022 2023 academic school year, the district conducted an internal audit to examine how our systemwide staff members were being utilized. Systemwide staff members were those who were employed by the Worester public school system, but assigned to multiple schools within our district. As shown at the center of this slide, departments
012such as teaching and learning, special education, multilingual learning, innovation, and culture and climate each had systemwide staff who worked across multiple schools and quadrants to advance district and departmental goals. Through this audit, we recognized an opportunity to strengthen the coherence, efficiency, and intentionality of the support provided to schools. In response, the district launched the quadrant team model as illustrated on the right side of this slide. This shift created multiddisciplinary teams within each quadrant, bringing special education, multilingual learning, innovation, and culture and climate staff together to collaborate more closely and provide coordinates coordinated support to schools. It is important to note that Q teams were formed entirely through the reassignment of existing systemwide staff. This was not an expansion of staffing, but a strategic realignment designed to deliver more responsive, coherent, and school- centered support. The
013primary goals for the Q teams um consist of a variety of things. The first is to improve coaching. Q team coaches partner closely with school-based coaches to accelerate school improvement. Their work strengthens practice, enhances effective data use, and promotes coherence across schools. In addition, Q teams ensure collective accountability. The Q team structure has helped dismantle siloed approaches and foster shared responsibility for student outcomes both within individual schools and across the quadrant teams. We also work to leverage crossf functional expertise by bringing together professionals from multiple departments. Q teams use their collective expertise to solve complex problems and design more comprehensive support for our schools. And last but not least, we want to make certain that we're providing continuous responsive support. Because school improvement is iterative, Q team provide ongoing adaptive support that can be refined
014as school needs evolve. Next slide, please. This slide highlights the growth of our QT model. Although we are only in our third year of existence, there has been a tremendous amount of work done towards supporting our schools. Year one was about developing connections. We worked to build relationships and trust. We had to show principles, our school-based folks, instructional coaches, and our faculty and staff members that we were there to help, not just evaluate. Year two was about calibration. We focused on unifying unifying our lens, ensuring that when we looked at data or instruction, we were all seeing and evaluating the same things. Year three, which is our current year, is about collaboration in and precision. Our five teaching and learning supervisors are here with us tonight and I'm going to call them to the to
015the podium. We have Marissa Perez Brown from the Burnco Quadrant. We have Colleen Murray from the Dority Quad quadrant. We have Colleen Santon from the North Quadrant. We have Kate Azelton from the south quadrant. And we have Tim Liry who supervises our curriculum specialists. They work closely with EDS and coaches on Q teams and serve as the point of contact for coaches in each school within that quadrant. They are also accountable for our coaches academy meetings which we will discuss later in this presentation. Overall, our Q teams bring tremendous value to schools by offering consistent job embedded coaching and problem solving grounded in data and the district's instructional priorities. Their cross-d department collaboration helps dismantle silos, creating a unified approach to improving tier one instruction, supporting multilingual students and students with disabilities, and ensuring every
016school receives the right support at the most needed time. At this time, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Chris Croonus, who will dive deeper into the impact that Q teams are having on our schools. >> Thank you, Dr. Tatum. So the impact and growth uh which are important uh to look at the work that we're doing so far and where we're going. Next slide please. So the next these 12 areas you'll see on the next two slides for impact and growth. It shows the purpose of the Q teams is to strengthen instructional improvement and school support through a multi-d disciplinary quadrant-based system of collaboration. Each Q team brings together district and school leaders including representatives from teaching and learning, multilingual learning, special education, our social emotional learning which is climate and culture and
017innovation. And we do that to ensure coherence and alignment between district priorities and school level implementation. We provide targeted coordinated support that meets the academic and social emotional needs of every student. We use data and evidence to monitor progress, identify trends, and drive continuous improvement. We develop leadership capacity among principles, assistant principles, and teacher leaders through shared learning and accountability. And that responsibility is shared and delegated. And we promote equity and inclusion by integrating the expertise of multiple departments to address barriers to learning, getting the best people possible to help in the quickest way possible. Next slide, please. We are seeing tangible growth in several key areas. ML instruction. By having multilingual directors on our teams, we are seeing more consistent use of scaffolding strategies in general education classrooms and our walkthroughs that look for
018the five essential practices and in particular student discourse. In collaboration, the silos are disappearing. A special education supervisor and a math supervisor can now walk into the same classroom together and give unified feedback and strategies to coaches and staff. Our culture people, we are integrating social emotional learning data alongside academic data to get full picture of the student experience and help support the whole child. Our data driven decisions. We aren't guessing. We are using real-time data from walkthroughs to adjust our support immediately for coaches and staff, our district coaches and our teaching and learning supervisors. Coaches Academy. The training our school-based coaches with our district coaches are training our school-based coaches so they are aligned with district priorities. This builds capacity that stays in the building even when we leave. Monthly PD in all areas
019of learning is also occurring through this innovation instruction. We are seeing more risks being taken in the classroom in a good way. Teachers are trying new and engaging strategies using technology because they feel supported to do the best they can. Vision of a learner. We are ensuring that every school is aligning their work to the vision of a learner profile. Ensuring our students are acquiring those critical skills on how to be an engaged community member, curious learner. empowered individual problem solver and effective communicator. Next slide please in the implementation what Q teams do. This graphic illustrates our cycle of support. It's not linear. It's a continuous loop. First we analyze data. We look at the numbers and the student work in our schools and each and every classroom to find trends, successes, and improvements that
020we might need to make in real time. We create action plans. We co-construct a plan with the school leadership to help support areas of instruction and staff that are subject matter experts in that area. What is the best way to deal with each situation? We also share these ideas across our Q teams and district level meetings to ensure inconsistency across the district. Implementing support. We deploy our teaching and learning supervisors to help execute that plan. They coach the coaches in each building as well as staff on how to best support and help improve instruction. And then we evaluate. We check if it worked. Did student outcomes change? Executive directors review this information with principles during walkthroughs and data meetings. Then we start the cycle again. This discipline ensures we never get stagnant and are always
021looking at improving instruction for all of our learners. Next slide, please. expediting the problem solving and scaling the proven methods. One of the biggest advantages of the QT team model is speed and scalability. In the past, if a school in the north quadrant figured out a great solution for dealing with attendance, it might stay a secret or not make its way over across the city. Now, because we meet weekly as executive directors with teaching and learning supervisors as well as our whole Q teams and staff and cross-pollinate ideas, we can take a proven method from one school and scaled across the district instantly. We expedite problem solving so schools aren't reinventing the wheel. We are making the district procedures better as a whole, which in turn will help improve instruction and student learning and guarantee
022high quality instruction for all learners. At this time, I'd like to turn it back to Dr. Tatum. So looking ahead, we have a clear vision of where we want this work to go. Next slide, please. In looking at our future vision, it includes the following. Uh deepening deepening alignment, uh strengthening the vertical alignment from elementary to middle to high school within each quadrant. We want to continue to focus on our data systems, continually refining our data dashboards for real-time decision-making using data methods such as STAR, common assessments, PLC, walkthroughs, attendance as well as discipline. Also continue to develop the culture and climate within our schools. Um, developing a dedicated culture and climate team to focus exclusively on the safety and belonging aspects of our schools. Um, and then developing a leadership pipeline using the Q
023team structure to identify and mentor the next generation of folks, instructional coaches, assistant principles, principles, and district leaders. As our school's needs needs evolve and the scope of the Q team support continues to expand, we will conduct a systematic review of team capacity, analyzing workload, school demands, specialized expertise, and impact data to determine whether additional members are necessary. I will now pass it over to Mrs. Ellen Kelly who will provide more insight into the collaborative structures that exist as a result of the QT team model. >> All this good work is happening with collaboration and teamwork and we have a few photos and a video to share with you. Next slide please. This picture is a picture of our coaches academy. Our monthly coaches academy brings together all instructional coaches both district level Q team
024and building base to create a unified and effective system of instructional support. These me meetings continue to strengthen instructional practice across our schools by providing dedicated time to analyze student data, align on instructional priorities, and share high impact strategies. Through regular collaboration, coaches are able to calibrate expectations, identify emerging trends, and coordinate and coordinate support for the teachers more consistently. Next slide. This is a picture of our QT meetings. Our QT meetings are disciplined and consistent. Each week, executive directors in their quadrant teams review targeted school data, identify schools of focus in need of additional support, and deploy resources accordingly. This structured rhythm keeps us accountable to the schools we serve. Additionally, we meet monthly as a district to share as a district Q team. So all four Q teams meet together to share best
025practices and problem solve approaches ensuring greater alignment and consistency across all schools. Next slide. To truly understand this work, you have to see it in action. We'd like to share an example that illustrates how the Q team operates. >> [music] >> The Worcester public schools has created quadrant teams or Q teams to provide more consistent and aligned support to [music] our schools. Each of the four quadrants has its own team working side by side with educators every [music] week. Each team is comprised of educator coaches from the following departments: [music] culture and climate, innovation, multilingual education, and special education. >> [music] >> These teams work in an interconnected unified manner to best provide schools professional development and [music] coaching. >> We bring our own unique lens to coaching conversations to [music] best support schools where
026students um come with a variety of different learning profiles and needs. The role of someone from culture and climate is going to look a little different [music] than someone from innovation. The other thing that might differ would be the support that the school is asking for. In many cases, we are there to support school leadership, [music] but there are some cases when we are working directly with teachers and giving teacher support as well. Before 2023, [music] coaches were based at the district office without designated schools. Now, Q teams spend four to 5 days a week. Looks like we might have to share that with you at a later date in time. [laughter] >> But that concludes our presentation. Uh open up to any questions. >> Any questions? Member mailman followed by member Mary Carrier. I
027bet the rest of that was like specific examples of things that went well and specific examples of things that didn't go so well. So I am interested in some of the specifics and I don't know maybe if the team here could offer some even something from each quadrant um because I when we started these we wanted to make sure that it was just not about you know >> evaluation that it was really about the support. So I hear the word and I hear like it seems like the practice is there but I was going to say the picture where it froze that was Marissa in a classroom. She's probably going to kill me, [laughter] but Marissa >> have an example of what you were doing. >> Yeah. Through the chair, before Marissa speaks though, member
028mailman, um, one of the things that the Q that's important about the Q teams is that Q teams are not evaluative. So Q teams are developed specifically to be supportive. So the work that individual Q team members do, let's say with a focused instructional coach or a third grade teacher or anyone that they're working directly with, it is it's truly just to support the process and to improve student outcomes. There's nothing about that that is intended to be evaluative at all. >> Okay. Hi, my name is Marissa and I support the Berno Quadrant. And so I would say that um as our role has changed um our title has changed over the years. Part of what helps us with that is that we work handinhand with the executive directors so that there's consistency throughout our
029meetings. A lot of times they might get um called away when we have a QT meeting um for any number of things that they might be working with in within the district. I'm sorry. I'm just going to say that I'm super nervous. I'm just going to own that. >> And I think that's going to help calm me down a little bit. No, I just want to I just want to be honest. Thank you. Um >> and so with us working alongside the executive directors, we're able to keep that consistency throughout the Q team um and the QT meetings. As far as school level support is concerned, if we um for example in the burn coat quadrant, if I have a coach who is struggling um for example with a new teacher and um we go
030through the coaching conversations about how that teacher can or how that coach can support that teacher and then what I'm able to do is identify which of the QT team members can now come in and also support that teacher. there were some areas of instruction where support was needed. So we could bring in the curriculum specialists if there was something around innovation or if there are a number of special education students within the class. I have easy contact with any member of my Q team who can come in and we can sort of triage the problem from a number of angles so that we're supporting um from sort of a holistic lens and not just one person coming in and and offering that support. Can I ask if you've been in this role for three
031years? >> I have. >> Okay. So, at the beginning, can you kind of show us the evolution? I think one of the things member Johnson had talked about last year was consistency across districts, across quadrants, and um how the practices have changed. I wonder if you can maybe say year one or two we're doing this, but year three is really different because we're actually doing this, >> right? So I think if I'm being honest I think in year one um we were operating still sort of in many many silos. We had done a better job in breaking down the silos by assigning the different quadrant teams but I think still um I think we fell into habits right whereas um special education might have still focused solely on special education work and so on. And
032so as um and I would say that for Burnco, I think Will would support that our team has been pretty consistent over the three years. And so what's really helped with that is that we've gotten to know each other and we know really well now who I can call on for this. I was in a um in a resource classroom a few months ago and I thought I really want to talk to someone about how can we actually push these kids into an inclusive setting because I could see the potential um of what the students were able to do and I immediately knew who I could call on to get that conversation going. Um and I think it's taken the relationship building over the years and us knowing each other and our strengths to be
033able to do that. But but I would say yes, in the beginning we had to work through some of that. Do you want to add anything? I appreciate you being here >> through the chair. Um I'm Colleen Santon. I hopped up here because I have also been on the team since the beginning. Um and so I do think that there there absolutely has been an evolution. Um but I think the mission has stayed the same the entire time which the Q teams as was shared in the video was to provide more efficient support, more concentrated support um and the right kind of support. So I was a building based coach. I was also a special education teacher for the district before I stepped into this position and I found that we had so many amazing
034people that I knew after the fact, right? So I would need help with something and I would kind of go through the chain and call all the people and by the time I get this person who's in front of me, I'm like, "This is an amazing wonderful human being who can solve this problem, but I figured it out like two months ago." Um, so I think the efficiency piece is what is really kind of most important in terms of of specific examples. Um, I think there's there's a lot. There's countless really. Some are smaller. Um, one that comes to mind in particular was at the start of last school year. Um, our kindergartens felt hot, right? Like it just there was a lot. We're getting a lot of phone calls because the kindergarten programming, you
035know, coming off of COVID, figuring all different reasons trying to figure out behaviorally, academically where students were. And it was really helpful for me personally to be able to go in. We had at the time um the special education department had on our team was an OT um by trade and we had special education who had worked in sub separate. We had myself and we had our multilingual coach who all went in and observed the kindergarten classes across and from that we were able to determine is this a district-wide need that we really need to look at. Are there some things that we need to put in place systematically to make sure we're preparing the students to come in or is this kind of a one-off. Um there's been a lot of moments like that.
036Also Marissa highlighted this in Burnco. had similar experiences in the north quadrant in terms of special education and opportunities for more inclusion. Um so we've worked really closely over the last two years with our sub-sepparate programs um particularly our step programs. Um one instance now is at one of our schools the entire classroom has changed. There's a completely new setup um in terms of of that's a step classroom at City View. Um one of the teachers there and I believe she spoke at one of the school committee meetings previously when we did a QT meeting. Since then, we've still supported her classroom and it's changed this year. Um, and and it's worked out really really well. And so we we still check in with that. Um, so hopefully that kind of provides some insight. I
037think there's there's work to be done. We're still working on unifying our systems, but as Marissa shared, having direct access to the executive directors, having access to both the principles and the coaches and aligning the content in those meetings, um, has felt really good and we've gotten really strong feedback from that as well. So, so each of you, and this is kind of my last kind of overall question, each of you has about 10 schools per quadrant. And um if I if I asked a principal, would they say that they see members of the Q team once or twice a week or they see the whole Q team once every few weeks? like what kind of time are you guys there versus um in other versus DAB actually >> through the chair. So I I
038I would guess that a principal would say that they are seeing members of the Q team every week. Um that's a guess but what I can tell you is that through yesterday our Q teams have visited schools 2495 times this year. members of the Q team. They're in schools a lot and we have our folks sign in every day and that's at the at the desk. So, we have a a way in which that we're making sure that we're tracking the visits so we know how frequently they're getting into schools. And the things the things the schools would ask you for most consistently that we aren't doing is what >> if we were going to expand the Q teams and to provide additional support at the school level I think we would uh look at
039delving into um specific curricular support. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you very much for the presentation. Um couple of questions. One is um on the Q teams, how are they divided? I don't expect you to respond this this evening. What I would ask is that perhaps in a Friday letter you could list um the administration would be able to list Q teams. So here's the north quadrant. These are the schools that are covered. The reason I'm asking is how do you tie in u if first of all is that possible to get a listing of what the Q teams and the coverage are. So not already what schools do they cover >> Mr. Allen. So through the chair so each of the Q teams cover the the that entire
040quadrant. So each of those members that were on the beginning slide that from each of the disciplines all cover so the north quadrant covers all of the north quadrant schools. The Dherty Quadrant team covers all of the Dherty Quad and so forth. >> So how do we weave in the alternative programs? How do we how how are they covered? >> So that is for the most part quadrant based as well. Um so Gerald Kramer Center is located in in the north quadrant. >> So I'd be I'd oversee the Gerald Kramer Center. Um Challenge and Reach is in the Burnco quadrant. That'd be Mr. Foley. And our ACT program is in the Dority quadrant. Should that be? >> So we are >> taking the liberty of visiting those sites, >> helping their their staff, >> working
041with them, bringing all of the supportive ideas that are here that are terrific, but we are also passing them on to all of our alternative programs >> through the chair. Definitely. >> Um, thank you. And through the chair, I I would ask your um priority um keeping in mind besides funding of any any anything at all um what is your most important what do you look at as your toughest challenge to make this successful? >> Mr. through the chair. I would say um and this partially goes to member Milman's question as well. I think that first year was somewhat about also building trust. I think Mr. Foley talked about that kind of his remarks. I think by now um schools fully embrace Q team members and I think the biggest challenge is having enough Q
042team members to support schools the way we want to support schools and it does require resources but I do foresee if resources were available expanding QT membership to better support the schools again we're never going to have enough resources to put people in every single school in these capacity the best way to do it is to concentrate it in this Q team model so we can support them from the district level. >> So each would be visiting at a period of time but there's no set schedule. And in the other piece of this is do we ever hear from teachers saying I would like to have the Q team stop in my representatives stop in or is this a schedule that is made by the staff members Q team? >> Mr. fully >> through the
043[snorts] chair both. So Q team members participate at schools in regularly scheduled meetings. For example, at some of the schools, our Q team members will participate in like a an every other Tuesday targeted team meeting, for example. Um but they also respond to critical need. So um a school a coach at a school or an assistant principal or even the principal can reach out to a Q team member and say, "We've got this going on. um can you come and help us out? Okay. And Q team members will prioritize providing that support >> and they and they're looking to not only focus on what the challenges at that time, but also to um look to see how they can continue their relationship. >> Absolutely. >> So, um relationship that's satisfactory to not only what they're
044supposed to be doing, but what the school needs are >> through the chair. Yes, absolutely. So, they're not Q team. The intent of the Q team isn't just to go in and fix the problem for today. >> It's to help the school develop the systems that um support whatever the issue is and to prevent that issue from recurring or to support the student that's having an issue. >> So, it's not a repetitious >> correct >> issue. Um, is once that occurs, is that something that is then forwarded to everyone, meaning all of the members of the Q team? This is a unique situation at a school that occurred. This is what we look at as the challenge. This is what the strengths are. So, is that something that is discussed >> through the chair? Yes.
045So our Q teams meet every Friday and in those meetings we talk about um we will have a regular >> cadence of discussion on specific schools um and and we'll also talk about um specific issues and supports that we've provided at schools and in right down to the classroom even to the student level. >> Okay. Are there times that um we're looking at with these the teams are are we [snorts] looking for additional research on um different programs and that we as the um a full system would be able to then add on to what they do. >> Do you the chair? So yes, um and we're continuing to see what other needs schools have so we can add to the Q teams. For example, we added the positive youth development u members recently to
046the Q teams, right? And so as we hear of needs that that's emerging in the district, >> we figure out the best way to provide that support to schools. And if it's through a QT model, then that's where we would allocate those resources. >> Okay. So that that's why I'm asking that because you want to look at this as what we can do now but also what we can do in the future that is not once we grow into one area we looking at what we can do next for our next step >> to ensure that each >> and through the chair one of the slides I think Mr. Croissonus mentioned was that continuous cycle. So, we're always evaluating um what we're working on and how to improve. And so, it's not just a linear.
047It's not that we put these positions in place and that's what it's going to be going forward. It may evolve based upon the needs of the district. >> Okay. Again, thank you for bringing this up tonight and thank you folks for doing what you do. >> Thank you. Um me okay. Sure. Well, thank you uh for your presentation. I'm just wondering um so the Q teams it sounds like um a lot of time they use to help solve problems that are happening in schools. And I was wondering if um we thought about also and that's busy. I know that's keeping them very busy. Um maybe in the budget um we talk about budget. would they also be um useful in the transition years? Because I'm very concerned about middle schools and the data we're seeing
048in going into 9th grade and the effects of that transition. So, I'm wondering if that would be something we would think about that the Q teams could help with that that also because that's a that's an issue and our it affects our dropout rate. It really affects everything. So, if we could um somehow I know they're so busy now with everything they're doing um think about an expansion for maybe someone that can look at that transition period. I mean, I know there's a transition between six and seven also, but I I really think that 9th grade look is something that we need to look at. And then um also um in special ed, not all kids can be effectively um transitioned without the right supports. And I I think we need to especially step uh
049students. the idea of moving so many step students uh into inclusion classrooms um without the regular classroom teacher um maybe not have knowledge of that. Uh I I I think that's something we we we need to look at. Um of course I'm all for inclusion. I was a special education teacher and I know the movement um over the last couple of years has been to move students into the regular curriculum. I I'm just not sure that everybody is ready to be moved into the curriculum unless we have the right support. So I would just ask that the Q team um look at that area too. The amount of students that are being moved into the regular curriculum without um you know the adequate supports. Thank you. >> Thank you everybody else. Thank you for the
050presentation. Well done. Then we're approving the file. All those in favor opposed. So a ordered. We have section N, approve the grants and finance items. Unless anybody has any questions, we can take those collectively on the roll call. >> Member Alvarez, member Biania, >> yes. >> Member Bernenda, >> yes. >> Member Guadiola, >> yes. >> Vice Chair Johnson, >> yes. >> Member Mailman, >> yes. >> Member McCulla, >> yes. >> Member Roy, >> yes. >> Mayor Penny, >> yes. [clears throat and cough] We have uh section O. We have 5-86 to receive a copy updated between the list public schools and the list police department. Um, member B carrier. Thank you uh through the chair. What I would ask um think first of all, thank you for providing this umou and the information to us.
051But what I would ask in instead of it being filed that it go over to Fog so we could have a little back and forth discussion on this. Um, >> certainly interested in some of the areas that are on there. >> Okay. It's it's in the it's in TLSS right now. So, they have it on their agenda. >> TLSS has it on the agenda. >> TLSS has it on their agenda for the next meeting. >> Okay. And when would that next meeting be held? >> December 11th. >> The 11th. >> December 11th. Okay. >> [snorts] >> All right. So, instead of file, then that'll be corrected to say that's going >> Yeah, we can send it to the TLSS. Yep. >> Okay. >> It's already been referred. You can file this because it's already in
052TLSS. >> So, the So, there were two outstanding motions. This one was at the full committee level, so we put it we're bringing it back here, but there was already an outstanding item in TLSS for the same information. So, it's already in TLSS. So, we'll be coming back with the same backup for conversation at TLSS at the December 11th meeting. So, this can be filed. It's already in TLSS. >> Okay. So, this So, all right. Let's see. And it's on the agenda for the >> December 11th meeting, which means December 18th. We would then have the discussion of that item from the minutes of that meeting. Am I correct on that? >> Yes, it'll be on >> right >> committee. Standing committee. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> All right. So, if we file this, it
053doesn't >> make it go away. >> I don't want that's what my concern. >> Thank you very much. >> Motion to file. All those in favor member mailman. >> Just a quick clarification. Um, were there any changes? I see this is dated 11:2125. >> Can you repeat that? Were there any changes? Um, it just got signed >> through the chair. >> So, from the last um agreement that we had >> through the chair. So, there's really only two uh small changes. One, we um added language with regards to curricular around talk to the cop program which had been existing but was not codified in the operating agreement. And the second one, the only other change in the entire operating agreement is we had provided the police access to our camera system upon request. Um, in
054speaking to the chief, I'm I'm meeting with the police chief on a monthly basis. We are actually providing them camera access instantly. So, if there were to be a school um incident, they automatically have access to our camera system. Um, so we're granting them that access and the talk to a cop uh language has been added. Those are the only two changes in language in the agreement. >> And the access to um the data means that the even though they have access instantaneously, they would only use it if we um said there was a problem. >> Mr. Owen. >> Yes. Through the chair. So, uh, it says I can't I can try to find it, but it says something to the effect of the WPD will only access it in the um in times of
055a school incident >> per our definition. >> Is that right? >> Well, yes. It's not defined what a school incident is, but it would it would be when involving the police. >> Okay. Okay. But this is going this is in TLSS and will be on that next agenda. Thank you. >> Okay. So motion is to file. All those in favor so >> next item is 5-83 request administration provide an update on the preppy kindergarten program. You can follow that. You want member mailman >> just briefly. Thank you for the um breakdown of the schools and I just like when we consider um the redistricting I hope that we consider we're constantly going to be in a trying to be in an effort of adding full day programs and that we do that in an equitable
056basis for areas that may need it the most. Are do you feel that we're those decisions have been made on that basis so far >> through the chair? So it's p primarily been driven by where we have space availability. >> Yeah. >> Um primarily but what we what we're doing as part of this analysis to see where program needs are where existing programs may be where we can move programs. If we were to expand uh to full day prek we certainly would want to do that in the equitable basis as that's one of our core values. Right. So um that is something we would be looking at. To fully expand to full day prek we would need 30 plus more classrooms. Yeah. So um that would obviously be a challenge but we would do that
057in an incremental way. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. So motion is to file. Those in favor oppose so ordered. Next is GB5-104 to resist the opportunity for utilize climate and culture staff for other staff particularly at the beginning of the school year to help set behavioral expectations on buses that have a need. parent petitioned in 2023 with many good ideas which included policy recommendations a number of students on the buses addressing overcrowded buses assisted drivers with safety concerns member mailman >> thank you um maybe folks there's not many people watching tonight but folks in the audience or others might have seen um what one of the groups did a preview of our meeting and they talked about you know was this an AI generated response And when I read it, because I saw
058that before I actually read this backup, I thought, "Wow, it sure reads that way." Um, and so I would like to ask through the chair to the administration that we have it identified. There's two comments I wanted to make that if there is an AI generated response to our I think that should be somehow noted and that that's what we're looking at. And then the second thing I wanted to comment on um you know it's important in paragraph four it's important to acknowledge the thoughtful recommendations raised by parents in 2023 including concerns these ideas remain valited as the district considers strategies to improve bus safety and student behavior. That's import that says yeah we get it and we think there might be ways to do it. I do want to tell whoever created the AI
059report that um it was not just about having climate and culture. It was an open-ended whatever staff might be available to um to serve this purpose. So, I don't know. That's I guess that's why you have to check on those kind of responses. So, I don't know if anybody wants to comment or I'll just send that pass that on. Thank you. >> Okay. So, motion is to file. All those in favor opposed. Okay. We are on 5-119. Request administration provide an update on the programs that include online harm through cyber bullying and social media. Member Rory. >> Thank you. I just would like a report to see where we're at on that as it's one of my big concerns with the children's um mental health. Um so that's all the rest of it is as
060it reads. >> Okay. So we'll send that to the administration by doing so. Mailman. Yeah, through the chair. Um, certainly an important topic and um, you know, I I think we'd all recognize what's happened nationally with our elected leaders going absolutely crazy on social media and online with bullying. So, um, and then we're looking for our kids, right, to do better. And I think we should be looking for our kids to do better, but we are we have horrible examples um in leadership in this country right now. Mayor through the chair, I know you know that. Um and then locally just some of the other groups that cause us cause problems like groups like Red Metro and others. Um I think it's an important item and um so I'll look forward to the answer. Thank
061you. >> Sen of the administration. Those in favor opposited. Request that administration consider reviewing approving long range plan for preventing dropouts in the West public schools by forming a committee with educators, social agencies, and business leaders to see what has been accomplished. It needs to be changed. Member Roy. >> Thank you again. Um I have a couple concerns about this as the as the numbers seem to um have gone up a little bit. Um, at the Gerald Kramer school, are the children through the chair to Mr. Allen, um, are the children going to day classes as well as the night program to get caught up? >> We still have the day program at the GCC. >> I'm sorry, could you repeat that? >> We still have uh the day program at the GCC. We actually
062have one of our students joining us today. >> And and um they also Okay, so they go to day and they also go at night. Correct. We offer both programs um so that they can either attend students can attend the day program or they can attend the evening program. So we have more options available for students. >> Okay. And those students they that participate in one or the other will they have enough credits to graduate? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, and the only other thing I have is for middle school to like we talked about the transitioning to 9th grade, um, is to reimplement the summer school to make sure they're on the same page and to bring that up. Okay. >> To the chair, we agree that's a it's simply a resource issue and
063it's something that um, we'll talk about more um, next month when I do uh, my midyear cycle report. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. Sent administration. Those in favor of post ordered. Next is to approve the change in the report of superintendent schedule. The sub8 2025 report has been changed from communication update to discipline data report. Motion is to approve the file. All those in favor oppose. So ordered. Do we have our announcements? So this bring us to the end of the meeting. And uh so many announcements be our Valentine West Historic Museum annual Valentine contest for students in grade three, four, five, and six. They take their place in history and contest is open to students in those grades in local public and private schools or those who are students of West Historical
064Museum members or those who are an active WA public library card. Okay. Motion is to adjourn. All those in favor post awarded.