001Dr. Warren, are you ready? One second, please. We're now live on Facebook. >> Thank you, Greg. >> I would like to call the business meeting of the Portland Board of Public Education to order. It is Tuesday, June 9th, 2026. Um we're meeting in a hybrid format with some of us here at Casco Bay High School. Um, board member Operman, board member um, uh, sorry, Vice Chair Bondo, um, will be online and the rest of us should be here in person. Um, we also have a student rep coming in online in just a few minutes. Um, Dr. Warren, will you please call the role? Board member Ali Ali, member Ysur Ali, Vice Chair Bondo, >> member Bryen >> here, >> member Lena >> present, >> member no, member Upper >> here. >> Member Sautell >> here.
002>> Student representative Grant >> here. >> Student representative Milstein Jones. Student representative Muhammad. Student Representative O'Brien, Chair Lince, >> present. Uh, thank you. Uh, now we'll do the pledge of allegiance once the flag comes up. >> Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic. >> To the republic for which we stand, one nation under God, liberty and justice for all. Portland public schools recognizes the original inhabitants of the land on which our city and schools stand. The Wulis Tiguay or Maliset, Migma, Ponobscot, and Pasimquati tribes known collectively as the Wabanaki Confederacy or people of the Dawnland. We are honored to have Wabanaki children among our students today. And as a district, we are committed to making the past, present, and future of Wabanaki peoples visible in our schools
003and classrooms. And as a reminder of our mission, the Portland Public Schools is responsible for ensuring a challenging, relevant, and joyful education that empowers every learner to make a difference in the world. We build relationships among families, educators, and the community to promote the healthy development and academic achievement of every learner. And our definition of equity, equity is all people being held to high expectations and having access to opportunities that are reflective of their individual needs, identities, and experiences. Equity is achieved in Portland public schools when there are no identifiable differences in outcomes and experiences for any population subgroup. And with that, I'm happy to open up public comment. Um, if anyone is here to give public comment, I'll go over the guidelines. Um, and if you are on Zoom, if you could raise your
004Zoom hand um, and I'll know that you wanted to give public comment there. Um, also, could we move uh, Safa Muhammad over? She's a student rep and she's on the attendee side. Thank you. Um if there's anyone here to give public comment um you can come up to the microphone. Okay. So I'm going to go over um this the the guidelines. Uh so speakers will be recognized by the board chair and comments should be addressed uh to the board chair. Each individual public comment will be limited to a maximum of three minutes or six minutes for individuals using an interpreter. Um, individuals may not relinquish a portion of their allotted time. Speakers should introduce themselves by name and city of residence. Members of the public may speak on any subject directly related to the school
005and education matters except for personnel matters, complaints, or positive comments concerning specific employees or individuals or matters pertaining to individual students which shall be addressed through established policies and procedures. Discussion of personnel matters is not permitted during the public comment period due to the privacy, confidentiality, and due process rights of school employees. Speakers must refrain from engaging in disruptive conduct, including but not limited to, using vulgar and/or obscene language, threatening others using words or by other actions, using pjorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, color, descent, gender, or other identity factor. making defamatory comments, exceeding the allotted time limits, talking over and erupting others, and offering comment on matters unrelated to the school board to the school and education matters. Uh
006the board will not respond to any comments given. The audience is asked to refrain from responding, including applause, comments, or disruptions. I will stop any public comment that is contrary to these rules. Individuals who refuse to comply um may be asked to leave. Um and uh I will keep the time and raise a yellow folder indicating that you have 30 seconds remaining and a red folder signifying the end of your time. So with that, go ahead. >> Okay. Uh so I'm speaking also on behalf of my wife tonight. So I'm John Russo. My wife is Joanne Russo. Uh we're at 1455 Riverton Road uh in Portland. And this actually is going to be a little over three minutes. I timed it. So it's going to be like probably closer to under four, but that's okay.
007Okay. >> So, good evening uh board members and Mr. Superintendent. At the beginning of the school year, my wife and I were pleased to enroll our daughter in the Portland public schools. Myself having previously another child attend the district, we anticipated a positive educational experience. Unfortunately, our experience this year has led us to conclude that the district is not the right fit for our family's educational priorities and values. The following concerns have been contributed to the decision to withdraw our daughter from the Portland public school system at the conclusion of this year. Number one, educational priorities and academic rigor. We are concerned that the district places significant emphasis on social emotional initiatives at the expense of academic rigor and achievement. While we recognize the importance of supporting students social and emotional development, we believe a
008stronger focus on academic excellence, intellectual challenge on student achievement would be better prepared for student success. We want our daughter to be consistently challenged and encouraged to reach her full potential. Number two, the role of schools and parents. We believe that the parents should remain the primary influence in shaping their children's values and character. In our view, schools serve the most important role when they focus on providing students with a strong foundation in core academic subjects and the knowledge and skills necessary for lifelong success. Number three, accountability and student safety. Our daughter experienced bullying on multiple occasions during the school year. While we brought our concerns to the staff and administrators, we are disappointed by what we perceived as a lack of responsiveness and accountability. Ensuring a safe learning environment for all students should be
009a fundamental priority and our experience left us concerns with how these issues were addressed. Fourth, political and ideological influences. We have observed what we believe to be an increasing presence of political and ideological perspectives within the school environment. We believe schools are most effective when they maintain a primary focus on academic instruction, critical thinking, and student achievement while remaining respectful of the diverse viewpoints represented by the community. Number five, respect for diverse religious beliefs. Our family's religious convictions do not align with many of the values and priorities that we perceived to be empa emphasized by this district. We believe public schools should foster an environment in which families of all religious backgrounds and sincerely held beliefs feel respected, welcomed, and included. For these reasons, we have decided to pursue a different educational avenue for our
010daughter. We believe this decision is in our best educational and personal interest. In closing, as taxpayers and members of the community, we expect Portland public schools to provide a highquality educational education that prioritizes academic excellence, student safety, accountability, and respect for the diverse values of families it serves. Regrettably, you folks haven't met our expectations. Thank you. Have a good night. >> Thank you, John. Is there anyone else that would like to give public comment either in the room or on Zoom? Okay, I'm not seeing anyone approaching the podium or any hands on Zoom. So, I'm going to go ahead and close public comment and move on to my remarks. Um, as we move into June, our schools and our city are making some of the most meaningful moments of the year or marking, excuse me,
011some of the most meaningful moments of the year. Uh, first, graduation season is upon us. Last week, we celebrated the accomplishments of students from Casco Bay High School, Daring High School, and Portland High School. Together, 479 graduates crossed the stage and began their next chapters. Portland Adult Ed will hold um two graduations over the next two weeks, adding 76 students getting their high school diploma, which is our biggest class ever. 61 students who have passed their high set exam and 90 more earning a work um force certificate. Um on behalf of the Portland Board of Public Education, congratulations to the class of 2026. And I'd like to do a little applause. Beautiful. Um we are proud of all you have accomplished. grateful to the families and educators who have supported you and excited to see
012the many ways you will shape our community and our world. I also want to remind anybody that's listening um that today is election day and polls are open until 8:00 p.m. Um we also humbly ask that you vote yes on our school budget uh referendum. And finally, June is also Pride Month, a time to celebrate the LGBTQ members of our community. One of the ways that we celebrate um which is also one of my favorite things um that the district does is participate in the annual pride parade here in Portland. Um and we invite you to join us. Um we will have a big yellow school bus decorated in all things rainbow and maybe even some bubbles and you can walk or ride uh beside us. Keep an eye on social media for the meetup
013time and location. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to the superintendent. Oh, I didn't say when the pride parade was, which is June 20th, um, in the afternoon. Change times. I'll get the time. It's okay. Just watch social media. We'll we'll tell you where to be. >> Uh, good afternoon everybody. Um, it is great to be here. Um, Chair Lince, you took a couple of my pieces, but I am not going to skip graduation. Uh, one of the things that I get to do at each of the graduations is talk a little bit about the accomplishments of each of the classes and across the three graduations last week. Having just an opportunity to share about both what students accomplished in their high school time as well as outside of school um were
014just too numerous to recount here, but truly an impressive class of 2026. It's clear that um we should both be proud of who they are now and where they're headed. And so just want to wish them all the best. One of the uh groups that we had at graduation was Prevention Action Change. And so a sincere thank you to Prevention Action Change that staffed outside and inside at each of the graduations just to make it a safe, welcoming environment for all. And for families who couldn't join this year, uh we live streamed all of the graduations and had over 200 viewers uh in countries across the world watching graduation. And so it was truly um a nice event. During graduation season, we also have step-ups and middle school moveup ceremonies as well. And so congratulations
015to all of our younger students as they go through that over the next week. This Friday, our community has an opportunity to celebrate 20 years of East End Community School. It's hard to believe, but it has been 20 years. This is a special milestone, and so we welcome everybody to join uh from 3:00 to 6:00 on Friday. Middle school engagement for looking at the future of our middle schools has started and is now underway. I want to thank everybody uh first who applied and second who are going to serve on these committees and so we will post those on our website so that we have all the information there and even for individuals who aren't um able to give the time to sit on a committee that they can follow along to the work and
016so please check out our website for that information. Uh last we are still looking for some families to join our special education parent advisory committee. This group will play an important role in shaping how we serve students with disabilities and we would love to have a couple more families at the table. Applications are open now and close on June 21st. Please look at our website for more information on that. Those conclude my comments for the evening. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um and up next we have the report of the secretary. Uh we have the consideration and action to approve the meeting minutes of May 26, 2026. Are there any corrections um to these meeting minutes? Hearing none, the minutes are approved as distributed. Um and now we have our focus on education which tonight
017is on our um multilingual and Spanish immersion programs. >> Yes. And so I'm going to welcome up uh Dr. Proctor, uh, Carlos Gomez, who is our, uh, director of ESOL and multilingual learning for our elementary network, and Theresa Lee, uh, who's the director for our secondary. Part of our strategic plan calls out looking at our multilingual programming and our Spanish immersion programming. And so, this past year, they've been working very closely with an outside group, evaluating our current programming, benchmarking it, and making recommendations. And so I think they had an opportunity to preview this for our curriculum committee last night. Um and we'll be doing this for the whole board because of its importance. And so happy to welcome them up. >> Um before uh Mr. uh Carlos Gomez comes before you to share uh
018the report and the reporting from Cal. I just wanted to uh do the introduction and thank uh both Carlos and uh Terresa Lee and all of the ESOL uh teachers and staff that have contributed to uh the investigation and review of our programs uh that we're g able to report on uh for you this evening. So just wanted to share my gratitude for the team uh that has done a tremendous job. >> Parl um we have the slide deck that we're going to uh project and our presentation from Cal is ready and queued up to go. >> Open up the slide deck. Yep. and then we're going to cue for the presentation from Cal and I'll run back and forth. >> Okay. >> Oh, the slide the our PPS slide deck. >> Greg, if you
019can pull that down. I'm going to put up the slide deck first. >> Great. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Carlos Gomez, director of elementary ESOL and uh online is Terresa Lee, our director of ESOL for secondary. Um, and we uh just want to give you sort of an overview of our uh initiative in the strategic plan that addresses specifically our multilingual learners. Although uh you'll you'll see um multilingual learners embedded throughout the strategic plan, but uh 2.6 specifically speaks to the English language development of our multilingual learners uh as well as their academic achievement which is similar to our um Lao plan and that the two are really meshed together. Um the wording around this initiative is on the screen. and I I won't read it to you, but essentially um this talks about building
020our capacity as a as educators across all of our schools, preK through 12 um to support multilingual learners development of language, but also um access to um core curriculum. Um so this year was our design phase and uh we contracted with the center for applied linguistics who um this organization did a program review of Portland public schools um last uh last time around which was about 2016 I believe. And um so we um we have been working with them this school year to do a study um to identify strengths uh identify some areas of growth and make some recommendations. So uh we're going to present um a video for you in just a moment. It's about a 10-minute video. Um the Center for Applied Linguistics unfortunately had some scheduling conflicts. We were hoping to do
021this presentation a little bit earlier in the school year. Um but um but they've kindly made it's it's their presentation. Um and then you have access to the executive summary and the final report. So, we will go ahead and roll this video um the presentation of the of their findings and then we can answer any questions afterwards and then we'll have two more slides on short-term and long-term goals that come as a result. You'll notice a small pause at 6 minutes and 10 seconds for about 11 seconds. And don't fear, it'll come back up. >> Thank you. Just want to prepare you. >> Greg, if you can do the video now Never seen before. Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to share findings from the evaluation of Portland Public Schools Esau and Spanish
022immersion programs. This evaluation was conducted by the Center for Applied Linguistics program strengths, implementation challenges, and strategic recommendations to support multilingual learners across the district. The evaluation examined program implementation, student outcomes, and system level supports for multilingual learners. Tonight, we'll briefly highlight key findings and several high lever recommendations designed to strengthen instructional coherence, language development, and equitable access across programs. It's important to interpret multilingual learner outcomes within the context of language development. Current multilingual learners are learning academic English while also learning grade level content. Because of this, former multilingual learners, the students who have exited language development services, often provide a stronger indicator of long-term program outcomes. In Portland public schools, multilingual learners make up approximately 30% of the student population, highlighting the importance of ensuring that language development remains a district-wide priority. For the
0232024 2025 school year, about 49% of multilingual learners met their access growth targets and an additional 11% exited multilingual learner services. Looking at academic outcomes, current multilingual learners continue to experience challenges on English-based state assessments with 76% below performing below expectations in English language arts and 87% below expectations in mathematics. In contrast, your former multilingual learners are demonstrating much stronger performance, particularly in English language arts, where 77% met or exceeded expectations. So these findings suggest that as students are developing academic English proficiency, their academic outcomes are improving over time. We'll first begin with the findings from the visits and data analysis for the ESOL program. Overall, the evaluation identified many strengths across the ESOL program, including highly committed educators, strong relationships with students and families, and many examples of inclusive instructional practices. One of the
024program's greatest strengths is its people across the district. We observed dedicated educators who have built strong relationships with its multilingual learners and demonstrate a genuine commitment to their success. We also saw many examples of inclusive instructional practices and school-based efforts to create welcoming, supportive learning environments. Most importantly, the stronger academic performance of formal multilingual learners suggests that the program is helping many students achieve long-term success as they develop English proficiency. At the same time, several challenges emerged. Service delivery models were very um various across schools, resulting in inconsistent experiences for multilingual learners in the district. Collaboration and scheduling structures that support multilingual learners were not consistently in place, and the access data were not always being used systematically to inform instruction. Additionally, secondary multilingual learners face particularly significant challenges in literacy and mathematics, indicating a
025need for more targeted academic and language support at middle and high school levels. Based on the strengths and challenges we identified, our recommendations focus on building greater consistency with short-term and long-term priorities. In the near term, we recommend clarifying the ESOL instructional roles and service delivery expectations so that multilingual learners have more consistent experiences regardless of school assignment. We also recommend strengthening scheduling structures that allow ESOL and classroom teachers teachers to collaborate more effectively. Another immediate priority is increasing the use of access and other formative data to guide instructional planning and monitor student growth. And finally, we recommend expanding literacy and mathematics supports for secondary multilingual learners and other specialized ML populations who may require acade additional academic interventions. And looking ahead for long-term priorities, we recommend developing clearer instructional pathways for MLS across grade
026levels to ensure continuity of services. We encourage continued investment in professional learning focused on ML education for both your ESOL and general education staff to strengthen the collaboration between ESOL, general education, and special education teachers. And we recommend enhancing district-wide progress monitoring systems to create a more consistent approach to tracking student outcomes. And now we will discuss highlights from the Spanish immersion program evaluation as detailed in the full report. Beginning with strengths, the the Spanish immersion program offers valuable bilingual learning opportunities and demonstrates strong academic outcomes for students enrolled in the program. As evidenced by the data analysis, Apple data suggests steady progression in language proficiency across grades with increasingly strong performance in receptive domains, though slower development in productive domains. NWA results indicate high levels of ELA achievement with particularly strong performance in the
027upper grades. Similarly, grade level data indicates strong performance in mathematics particularly in the lower grades. Mcast, classroom visits, and focus group data show that overall teachers held a strong commitment to high quality instruction, particularly at the elementary level. Teachers were dynamic and engaging, maintained positive rapport with students, and exhibited effective classroom management skills. District and school administrators as well as teachers described Spanish immersion parents as highly engaged and deeply committed to the program. Parent participation in the Spanish immersion listening sessions was notably high. These strengths are um things that we can celebrate and then set us up for some of the challenges that were also identified. So in the challenges there is room to grow. As mentioned earlier, Spanish language development, particularly in the productive domains could be further supported. Enrollment numbers and themes from
028focus groups with admin, teachers, and parents point toward limited access for multilingual families, highlighting the need to expand access so that the program reflects the linguistic diversity of the district. And finally, some of the challenges um and the full list is available in the report such as the need to establish a program language allocation plan really stem from insufficient district-wide programmatic planning and support which leads us into uh recommendations. So these are organized in short-term and long-term recommendations. Short-term recommendations focus on strengthening the current program. So, a district level staff member with expertise into dual language programming and instructional practices could guide and inform areas like Spanish language development through explicit language objectives, structured opportunities to engage in extended oral and written discourse in Spanish, intentional cross-ling linguistic connections among other short-term goals in the
029full report. Additionally, improving program communication and ensuring families clearly understand the program opportunities and expectations will increase program visibility and family engagement. Long-term goals include uh expanding opportunities for multilingual students to participate in bilingual programs. While it will require a considerable investment of time and funding that will provide it will provide the research supported benefits of a two-way immersion program and ensure equitable access for multilingual learners. In closing, uh these evaluations evaluations highlight both the strengths of Portland's multilingual education programs and opportunities to strengthen its implementation. The recommendations provide a roadmap for improving instructional coherence, expanding opportunity, and supporting multilingual learners across the district. We welcome your questions via email. Please see our contact information below. And once again, thank you for the opportunity to work with your school community through this process. uistics findings
030and um be glad to answer any questions related to their study. Um but you also have contact information to reach out to them directly too if there are some questions that um that they could speak to. And I've got I think got Teresa Lee on the line as well if there are any secondary specific >> questions from the board right now. >> I just board member Sautell. Go ahead. >> Um I saw a term I didn't I've never seen before. What is the term productive domains mean? >> Anything in which you produce language. So speaking and writing >> and receptive would be listening and reading. >> Thank you. Um Vice Chair Bondo, go ahead. >> Thank you chair. Thank you for the presentation. We had uh uh the presentation. We have a few of the
031law plan yesterday evening. So I have a uh actually three four question but I will go with three only. So I think maybe I don't know if the team can answer I think on the challenges I've tried to get a little more detail on one of the challenges meaning on the inconsistent use of access data to guide instruction. So can I just understand the current what we doing right now and what are we presenting to us if the accuracy of what we've been presenting if we have a that a consistency of that area I mean it can be elementary school but I'm mostly concerned to the middle school and high school and also uh the the way we are tracking the milestone for the IPS for uh four 504 plans if we have that a
032consistency on the on the on the of the use of the those access data to guide instructions. So because it's really relating on my question yesterday about how well are we doing the the ILP for for individual uh student especially into the categories. I don't know if if you if if I if if my question is making sense to you or you want me to rephrase it differently. >> Um if I could I could try to summarize it and address it. essentially I mean at the core of your question uh sounds like it is how do we use access scores um if the if the center for applied linguistics is finding it uh inconsistent or uh not optimized. Exactly. >> Okay. So, um so access scores essentially are the access test is given in January
033and February. Remember that this year we had for example lots of different activities in the community that were um that sort of affected that that time in January, February of this year. We get the scores four months later in May. We reflect on those scores as a as a team, as a district, as a school, uh at various levels all the way down to the individual student level with ESOL teachers and and um language acquisition committee teams and if a student has an IEP as well, uh with the IEP team. and then we make decisions about uh programming um and instruction that we essentially implement in September. So it's about an 8-month gap in those access scores uh in terms of action taken on them. So we have um lots of different um data and
034we talked a little bit about this yesterday around qualitative and quantitative data that informs our programming. So um I think what the center for applied linguistics is uh is communicating to us is that we can be more deliberate and purposeful about how we use any and all data including access. Uh and that's where we talked a little bit about the data dashboards uh for example uh yesterday. So hopefully I've addressed some of that question, but um that's uh that's an ongoing conversation and we'll actually talk a little bit about that as far as next steps. >> Vice Bundo, did you have another question? >> Yeah. Yeah. Yes. But I see uh Miss Lee, she just raise her hand. Maybe she want to add something. >> Thank you for flagging that. I didn't see. Yeah. Go
035ahead. >> Thank you. Um just to add at the secondary level especially um we've been uh schools have been working to have not just the ESEL teachers looking at that access data and adjusting instruction based on language proficiency but really trying to get that data into ELA classes, math classes, science classes, social studies classes. And I think that might be um part of what they were referencing in the slide this evening. Okay. All right. Thank you. So, yes. So, uh this is I'm going to my second question and uh uh we've been struggle with the math for years especially in that target population of our students. So, my question is should be on both side elementary and I think elementary and but mostly middle school and high school. So I'm just wonder if if one
036if if our students struggles with any complex mathematic words are we capturing the the way the student is not understanding the mathematic or because he's not understanding the vocabulary. How how do we capture that? >> Because we see Yeah. because we have seen in the category of student they've been they are so in they are they are they are they are not making up to the state level so they are so low so I'm just wonder what we capture that do we capture when they they just don't they don't understand the mathematic as a that complexity of the world or they just don't understand the vocabulary who who is aligning to that >> right >> what do we see >> yeah I uh I Think the core of that is that there's both language and
037content embedded and and our commitment um is to the development of language and uh to ensure that our students our multilingual learners have access uh to achieve uh at a high level in the core content. Um so it it's a two-part answer. I think the um not to get too technical, but the um WEDA access uh or the WEDA standards uh for various um for multilingual learners includes the language of math as the standard >> as well as the language of science, the language of social studies, um the language of of language arts and interpersonal um social language. So we um we are developing our classroom teachers ability to um to use scaffolds to scaffold the content while we teach the language of of math in this case. Um so so that's that's part of
038um of how we address that. Um, and at the secondary uh secondary level, I'm not sure if if Teresa might um have something additional to add. The one thing that I would add is that uh and you'll see in our next slides that math will take a more of a center focus um in the short term. >> All right. Thank you. Uh yeah, please go ahead, Miss Lee. Well, Carlos stole my answer, so to speak, but um the focus um one of the a large focus in uh the ESEL department next year will be um working with math teachers and ESEL teachers to increase um scaffolds in math classes. And we have um teachers who are going to be co-eing in math um at the middle school level. and we're going to have um PD
039and support around that working with the academic team. >> Okay, great. So my last question is on the I have I have many couple years ago and I think last year I have many parents been asking me uh they've been complaining a little bit are the the respond on the on the on on the on some of those uh mathematic reaction because what they mention about then most of the kids they try to translate that mean that translate that translate how you say that again uh transluaging aspects of their head. I mean they are translating on the on on their own language as a uh toolkit before making up to the to the answer of the or the response or maybe you know try to solve the the math equation. So I'm just wonder how
040how we are bridging that framework around professional development. So teacher can understand and those are all or those are student are speaking different languages. So it's taking them little little time to try to translate on their own language before uh answering the question or moving to to the area. So are we bridging that trans transluaging framework to the professional development. So, so teacher they understand and they are not slow but they have that mechanism still in them. That that is certainly something that we as as we develop uh our teachers through professional development um we constantly remind them of of what that language trans languaging process looks like. what um how to um how to build on our students funds of knowledge including their exposure and understanding of math uh from their um education prior
041to coming to Portland public schools as well as as well as the language of math. So that that is all with within um the domain of the classroom teachers professional development along with specific uh language scaffolds that uh allow for the content to be more accessible for students as well as uh other instructional techniques for teachers to um to teach math. So that that is actually the the topic of um and that might be a good transition to our short-term solutions here uh or short-term plans uh based on the presentation that you just heard from the center for applied linguistics. >> Perfect. Thank you. I and I really look forward to see how we moving those strategy forward. Thank you so much. Thank you chair. I'm done. >> Thank you, Vice Bundo. Um, board member
042Uberman. >> Thank you, Chair. Um, thank you, Carlos and Teresa. Appreciate it's done a lot of work, particularly with the curriculum committee as well as for the board. Um, my question relates to a comment made by a multilingual parent in the middle school um study uh discussions. They we had a a meeting with um lots of parents and comm community uh community members and one of the conversations was that if their child is not doing well be whether it's the trans language issue that Mickey brought up or um other reasons um is there afterchool opportunity um or for math and Esau uh help in that area at this point particular and I'm looking at the middle school uh to high school age. It's you know it how do how do they get extra help on
043a particular topic? Tier 2 type RTI type stuff is what I what I would refer to it myself. But um thank you. Um, so each of our middle schools has a a win block, a what I need block and um during that time students can get help in ELA and in math. Um there is a feeling that even more time would be very helpful. Um but that um is the intervention block typically. Um, I know I I'm sure that some more after school opportunities would be welcome. I I don't know aside from um Make It Happen, which I I don't know that they do um specific academic help um tailored to students. Um I don't know of other afterchool opportunities. >> Thank you. I've got um a a handful of questions, but also if it
044feels like you want to uh present your plan and then I can ask them. I don't know what feels most helpful. >> Sure. That uh let's let's go ahead maybe two quick slides and then we'll take some last questions. >> Sure. I'm sorry I missed your hand. Go ahead. >> I was not member Brighton. >> Um thank you chair. Um I have a quick followup um to what Miss Lee was talking about. Um, so my understanding, um, by all means, correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that the wind block, um, is also the time that, um, students would participate in things like band and chorus at the middle school level. So, I'm curious about how multilingual learners can access that extra support that she was talking about if they also want to
045participate in these other programs. >> That's a great question. My understanding is the schools are trying to balance that, but it is somewhat tricky business because that um those music blocks are somewhat locked in. Um my impression is they still get help but maybe not as much as they would get otherwise. >> Um but then music is so valuable. >> I agree. Um thank you so much for that um response. I appreciate it. Thank you, chair. >> Thank you. All right. All right, thank you. Um, so where do we go from here? Um, based on this program review, uh, for the Center for Applied Linguistics, >> you want the slides up. >> The slides would be great. Yeah. Yes, please. >> Greg, if you can just unpin. I have the slides shared right now. It's
046a lot of technology happening. Great. Thank you. Yep. Perfect. Um so in the short term so we're talking about next academic year uh we have and we'll continue to fine-tune and prioritize um these items. Um but essentially we know that the the the first two bullet points um will address u many of the short-term needs. Um so the first one is is conducting a communitywide district-wide engagement family community engagement process to um to see where we are with dual language immersion uh to see um uh to engage schools, families, etc. to to see where we have the community will to um to um have a dual language education program. Uh so we'll we'll be working on that. Um and also focusing in on math instruction. So um similar to what we did in the elementary
047and middle school level this year where our ESOL teachers and um coaches are collaborating to develop teachers capacity to work with multilingual learners. Whereas this year, this past year, we we focused on English language arts and the ELA curriculum. We'll continue to do that during this coming year, but also uh have a higher priority on on math instruction and illustrative math. So, those are those are the big two. Um, one of the recommendations that you'll see in the executive summary and the full report is uh to develop um a data dashboard specific to multilingual learners. So that's something that uh we're in conversation with our data team uh to be able to do. Um and then there are some other um considerations as well around collaboration around um endorsement u for ESOL instruction in our
048classroom teachers. So professional learning community. So these these are all things that we're considering and we're taking this this this week. we have um sort of the the final steps uh and through the end of the end of June uh to u concretize what those plans are for next year. So that's the short term and then and then in the long term um sort of over the next few years uh again still working with our Lao plan still working with our strategic plan uh after we pilot uh some things this year what are what are some of the things that we'll we will uh put in place for the following years. So, um we'll continue to work on the school board's resolution from um 2023 in which um uh we're looking to have as many
049general educators credentialed to work with multilingual learners. Uh we will continue to build out our strategic plan initiative 2.6 with a mission measure uh on access growth targets. Uh, one thing that I I don't remember if we said earlier, but the access test has undergone some changes. This year is a baseline year. So, um, we we are unable to compare to previous years, but it will serve as a baseline for growth and trends moving forward. So, that's what we'll do in the long term. Uh, we'll continue to monitor on a yearly basis. And um yesterday we talked a little bit about how the LA plan and the LA plan advisory committee specifically focuses focuses in on uh program goals. They're in section 11 of the LA plan. Um and anything else that that might um
050come along. We we know that uh the national landscape and picture changes um and that that we feel the effects of that um shortly thereafter. So, uh, so we'll be kind of pendient or aware of, um, of where we are with that. So, that's that's how we're using the the findings from from the program review. And it sounds like you might have a few extra questions. >> Yeah, I do. Um, also, I'm just realizing it's been a while since we've gotten an an update. So, I'm just thankful that you you um are all here. And I have kind of like three different categories of questions, which is um just generally I think it would be great to get the board um just like a a set of data about who are the students that are
051in our multilingual um who are identified as multilingual and kind of like where they are and any other demographic information. we can um I I just love to understand the big picture um as we are you know clicking down in including like things like um the top languages because I know that that has like shifting over time right um and then one thing that we talked a lot about a couple years ago and I'm curious to hear where things are now is that we were seeing um young people come in with lower language skills in their first language and so like the supports that we were providing were having to shift a little bit and I'm curious curious if that is still the the case and kind of like I know that um our numbers
052are kind of like slowing down in coming into the district, but in in terms of the language acquisition where students are coming in at, could you speak to kind of where they are right now and what it might look like moving forward? >> Sure. And and to your first question, um we building out this mult this data dashboard on multilingual learners will sort of have that at your fingertips, but but we also have other tools including Power School and Elevation that give us live um live uh data on who our current multilingual learners are. uh to your to your second question around um literacy in home languages. Uh I think that continues to be a a challenge especially at the at the secondary level. I would say maybe Teresa might have a little bit more
053insight insight into into that. But um yes, the the the number of students that are arriving is smaller, but um we we do I think what we're seeing more of is students moving from other uh districts either in Maine or or New England. Yeah. So >> um >> yeah, I don't know theres if you have any insight. Yeah, looks like >> yes. Um the need for uh foundational literacy help often because there were gaps in a student's schooling um is we're definitely still seeing that. And so, um, one thing I'm working on with the secondary network team, um, is to have, uh, an intervention system for foundational literacy for grades 6 to 12 and that will be a focus of the secondary network team next year. Um, one thing that we've already locked in is
054we have um, an assessment that we're using in elementary. um that company has um rolled out the assessment to support up to grade 8. So we'll be talking the same foundational literacy language from K to 8 which should really help. Um and we're looking for a similar solution to high school. So, that's something the secondary team is working on, not just for MLS's um who have gaps in their schooling, but for any student who for whatever reason has um missed some of those foundational literacy skills. >> Beautiful. Thank you for that update. Um and that's just an exciting update. Um and then to kind of go back to the um the ESOL certification for staff, the 660 certification. Um part of the board resolution um was from just hearing from schools and educators that there
055was sometimes like separation in the schools of you know students and families only being able to talk to certain teachers or educators to get the information that they needed or the support that they needed. And part of, you know, was just broadening and and so I guess I'm curious and this is um more like an anecdotal thing like are we seeing with the increase of people with the 660 certification like are we seeing people like utilizing those and then the the network of support feeling bigger in schools for multilingual families or not quite yet or just like how would you say that the impact of the 660 certification is um landing in schools. >> Um so just one one point of clarification um the 660 endorsement um is attached to a teaching certification. So these
056are five courses in addition to teaching certificate that um sort of give the the 660 endorsement uh which would allow that teacher to uh meet the LA plan in terms of direct English instruction. The um the board resolution from a few years ago was um sort of a credentiing. So uh wasn't a full 660 endorsement, wasn't five full courses. It was um for example um elevation strategies one of the platforms that we have has four asynchronous 1-hour long units that um build a teacher's capacity to work with multilingual learners. So that that would be part of the credential or to take a PLBSS class uh that we helped create that one of our ESOL teachers instructed. Uh so there are multiple entries and opportunities to be credentialed but the the full 660 certification is is
057uh it's a much deeper route. Um but I think overall what we're seeing is especially with the professional development work that we did this year um at the elementary and middle school level with um using multilingual scaffolds in the ELA uh curriculum. Much higher interest, a much higher awareness. Um I've had more teachers asking about how how they can learn more. Um, so, so I I think I think it's doing what what we've intended it to do to just raise awareness and um and and curiosity around language learning. >> Beautiful. Thank you for that. Um, and then I uh just had some more questions around the Spanish immersion slash um transition to dual language, which I just think the move to dual language is really, really, really exciting. Um, and I think we'll celebrate the
058strengths of our district even more by providing those opportunities. Um, I am I, you know, I've had so many conversations in the community about the Spanish immersion program and um, I think the concerns that I have heard are, you know, that it's pretty homogeneous in terms of its enrollment within the program. Um, and that often um, and and I don't know if any of this is true. I'm saying the concerns out loud because I would like data to understand if it if it holds um um but that you know that students in that program are often seeking outside support for English tutoring um and academic support um that and they're able to access that outside the program. So, I would just be curious to see demographic data over time about who those students are and
059like um you know, I think the dual immersion will um set us up to to potentially not be so um homogeneous within that program. And then I'm assuming that then the design will come from the ideal kind of like target students that we want in that program. >> Yeah, I would say two things. one is the center for applied linguistics did a did a um you'll find the information that you were just requesting in the executive summary as well as the report so I think that gives you a level of detail that will um answer your questions around that and then secondly as part of the the community engagement process next year uh it would sort of raise awareness around what is the difference between Spanish or one-way immersion and dual language immersion. And the
060short answer is um most of the students in a one-way immersion do not speak the target language, Spanish in this case, uh and are learning it from their teacher. Whereas a dual language immersion, half the student population is English- speakaking, half of the student population is target language speaking. So if it's Spanish, it would Spanish speakers, Portuguese, Portuguese speakers or a one-third bilingual something something along like along those lines and that um students are learning um content and language from each other as well as from the teacher. So it it is a it's a it's a research evidence-based um strategy for uh teaching multilingual learners English and for monolingual English speakers to become bilingual or multilingual. >> Yeah. So, so we would have those conversations um uh next year and we've we've been having them
061for a while and and again the report >> kind of highlights um the the the values of each type of program. >> Beautiful. Um I I'm excited to dig into that. As you can see, I like a lot of data and getting into the week. So, I really appreciate that. Yeah. >> And then just another thing that I've heard from the community is just that there are sometimes challenges running a program within a school. Um and so just think I'm glad that the community engagement will be there to help with that. >> And the the a school within a school model is challenging. I also um would think about critical mass. Do we do we have a critical mass in specific languages in specific school communities? And again, that's something that will come out in
062the conversation um next next year. But ultimately, is there a willingness by our community, including the school boards, including the school district to um to support a dual language immersion program? >> Beautiful. No, and I'm excited for updates. I've been also hearing a lot from the community around Portuguese and Arabic uh as potential options. So, just putting a plug in for those. Um but just thank you to you and your team and all the educators um because you're doing awesome work. Anything else from board members now that I've asked my 15,000 questions? Uh, okay. Let me just double check Zoom. >> Okay, that's it. Thank you so much. >> Good evening. >> Thank you. >> Right. Um, so up next we have uh some old business. We have a a couple of things on the
063agenda tonight. Uh so I would be looking for a motion for the consideration and action to approve new policy EBBD which is the temperature standards for schools and vehicles. Uh is there a motion? Thank you board member um Lena. Is there a second? Thank you board member Brighten. Uh are there any questions on this motion? Yes. Board member Sautel. Go ahead. Um, this is a couple weeks ago, but we had a email from a staff member about um vehicles and I I know it says says that, but um I guess my question is are for summer programs, do we have vehicles that have the capability, you know, air conditioning or the capability to be kept at an manageable temperature. >> So, um our buses are not airond conditioned. Um our vans are and so we
064have um basically do all the things we can to keep the the vehicles as cool as possible. Um opening windows, um providing uh you know, shade wherever possible, um water, ice, um that kind of thing. Two summers ago, we had a particularly bad heat spell when there was really nothing we could do to make uh a bus, you know, cool enough from our perspective, particularly uh to have students on it for a long ride. So, we were um in particular trying to get students down to the Margaret Murphy Center in SACO, which meant they would be on the bus for about 45 minutes in some cases. Um, and in that situation, we we really did not want to have to cancel the transportation because we wanted students to get to their program. And so, we
065came up with a quick plan and divided students between vans and assigned people to the vans and and made do. Um, it's not ideal, but it's just the the reality is that um school buses are not currently um equipped with with AC. I think over time as we're looking to purchase new vehicles, we should really be, you know, considering that. I I would argue that we should go ahead and make the extra expenditure. Um, we've also looked into retrofitting some buses. Uh, and I think we would prioritize the some of the specialized program buses that transport our students um with IEPs. And, uh, it's not a small amount of money. It's $30,000 about for a bus to to retrofit. So, um that is something that we're exploring and I think um again as we move
066forward both in terms of vehicles and buildings, we really need to consider and weigh the options for having um cooler cooler spaces given that climate change seems to keep going. Thank you. Any other questions from the board? Um, any public comment on the motion? Okay, I see none. So, close public comment. Uh, any discussion um from board members? I will just say that um in policy it felt like there was some rigorous uh conversation about kind of both the upper and lower limits of this policy and that we did um look at other districts across similar latitudes. Yes, across similar latitudes um and uh also uh sought feedback from uh staff. I do think that um one of the concerns that came up was around uh the lower temperature and making sure that all the
067um uh kiddos would have access to winter gear. So there's been good conversation about that and it feels like that is a commitment um that the district wants to make. Um and in our experience at Ocean like that has never been a um a problem. They keep a good stock there. Um, and so I feel really good about um the temperatures uh that are in this policy and lowering the the lower one just to see our kids being outside as many days as possible. Um uh so that those are my thoughts. So I'll be voting for this. Uh any other discussion from the board? All right. Then by roll call vote, please indicate whether you are in favor of the consideration and action to approve new policy EBBD uh which is the temperature standards for
068schools and vehicles. Uh Dr. Warren, will you please call the role? >> Board member Ali Elli, board member Yusra Ali, Vice Chair Bondo, >> yes. >> Member Brighten, >> yes. >> Member Lena, >> yes. >> Member No, >> yes. Member Operman, >> yes. >> Member Sautell, >> yes. >> Student Representative Grant, >> yes. >> Student Representative Milstein Jones. Student Representative Muhammad. She there still. Um, student representative O'Brien. Chair Lince. Yes. Uh, so that motion passes. Um, and Student Representative Muhammad is no longer um on our Zoom. Uh and up next we have the uh uh motion for the consideration and action to approve uh the middle school attendance boundary recommendations as recommended by the policy committee. I'd be looking for that motion. Thank you board member Brighten. Is there a second? Thank you board member
069Noir. Um are there any questions on the motion? Board member Brighten. Go ahead. Um so I have a question. uh if you if it's not a going to ask a question and you can say oh that's not a question on the motion that's a question on the content and wait for discussion. Um so I think the last time we talked about this I brought up the um so that there's the bullet point area of the document about um students that are currently within these areas within grade 6 through 8. Last time we talked about this, I talked about current fifth graders who are in these areas and whether somebody has reached out to them and you know and I'm seeing you know you have the option um to stay or move. Um and so I'm
070not seeing any numbers of you know how many current fifth graders there are. I don't know if that review has happened and if families have been contacted. >> I think that is a fine question for now and I would ask Dr. Warren to respond. Um, so I did confirm this with our team that's working on enrollment. No families have been contacted yet. They were waiting for um the board to make a final decision. Uh, only elementary families that were affected by the prior move um have have been contacted. Um, and I think this will come up in the next section. Uh but we are um staff have requested that we actually delay implementation of this until the coming school year which will give us more time um to be able to manage the enrollment team
071more time to manage both the the actual physical um movement of especially new enrolles um but also the communication process. >> Um thank you for that. I my perspective I was asking not from the perspective of like next week. I was asking from the perspective of current fifth grade families who are thinking about like which stepup day to go to like which middle school to mentally prepare to attend. >> Does it feel like you got the answer to your question though? Um, >> so they they wouldn't be changing schools um for the coming for the fall um unless they wanted to and then they could come and I think you know put in a request to the superintendent and we could look at that. >> Okay. Yep, that does help. Thank you. Thank you. Um
072any other questions on the motion? Just double check. Yeah. Um student representative Grant, go ahead. >> So this will take effect starting fall of 2027. So, the way that it is written now is that it would um uh go into effect after this vote. Um but in just a moment, I'm going to bring an amendment um that will ask us to do something different. Uh but I I appreciate the clarification. >> Um okay, I see no hands on um uh Zoom. Uh so, is there any public comment on this motion? Okay, I see no public comment. Um, any discussion on the motion? Um, I would like to introduce uh an amendment that would make this uh go into effect for the 2027 school year um uh to allow um the uh the data team and
073the transportation team and all the other folks um that need to do a little bit more work to make sure it is um uh seamless as possible to have the time and capacity to do that. So, I would be looking for a second to my amendment. Thank you, board member Noir. Um, are there any questions on the amendment? Um, is there any uh discussion on the amendment? Okay, then um by Yes. Board member Bryen, >> I apologize for the uh late raising of the hand. I do have a question. Go ahead. Um if so if we vote to um if we move forward your amendment and have this um potentially essentially be delayed until not this coming academic year but the next one. I'm curious about whether on a family by family basis there would
074still be the opportunity to put in a request for various reasons. You know um you know uh social dynamics of friend groups and things like that. Um, is would that still remain an option for families? >> I believe so. But, uh, Dr. Warren, do you want to respond to our superintendent? >> Yeah, I'll jump in. So, our district policy currently allows for out of neighborhood transfers and requests. Um, those are open now and families can submit for them. Um, and certainly for families that are in this impacted area, uh, we would take that into strong consideration. >> Thank you. Great question. Yes, student representative Grant. Go ahead. So the numbers that are like in this for the sixth through 8th graders that are affected, would they go to the middle school that they're right now
075currently districted for and then have to move or would they stay there? And this would affect a new group of people. >> Does that make sense? >> Yeah. No, that's a great question. I think uh Dr. Warren, do you want to respond? >> Yeah. The way this is written, it would allow for people who are in a middle school to stay there if they want to. Yeah. So they would have that choice. >> Okay. >> But I think your question though about are the numbers then correct? >> The numbers would probably be different based on >> probably change. Yeah. Once we bring in the next class since it's a delay off by a year now. >> It would be the current fourth graders that are going to be fifth graders in next year, right? >>
076Who would have been affected anyway? It's just that >> they're the first. They're they're going to be the first ones. Yeah. Okay, I understand. >> Yes. Board member Lena, go ahead. >> Would it um be inaccurate to adopt this amendment without updating the numbers of the students? >> Yeah, I think we need to get uh I would support getting the um uh the updated numbers. >> Okay. Superintendent, do you have a thought? Yeah, I don't think the updated numbers are required to approve the >> the date change as I think it's within the spirit of what would happen and the resolution is specifically directing around boundary changes. I think the information below it's informational in nature. Um and so I don't think we were have any technical reason why we couldn't approve it. um if
077you so chose. >> Yeah, I would be curious um other board members where you are on wanting to have the exact numbers versus um being able to um pass this. We could potentially table it to the next meeting to get those updated numbers or we could um uh not yet. Board member Brighten. >> Um thank you. So, um, given what we're seeing, uh, for, you know, 23 students and 10 students, I I don't I would expect that the numbers would be relatively in line with that and we're not talking about vast numbers of, um, students. And it does feel like if um, teams within the staff are waiting for action in order to be able to move forward with the work, it does feel like it would be acceptable, at least to me, to um,
078vote on your amendment. um knowing that the data points we have are approximate. >> Thank you for those thoughts. Um board member Uberman, go ahead. >> Thank you, Chair. Um my thought is that we should move forward with it largely because we don't really know what numbers there would be of fourth graders going into fifth grade, you know, or fifth graders going into sixth because of all the changes that could happen within a year. So it could be up five 10 and all even even to this fall if some people move to different places or moved into district. So um I think we should just move forward with the idea that these are the boundaries and when they'll be in effect. >> Thank you board member. Board member Lena. >> I'm I agree with Dr.
079Aperman. I'm not going to vote in favor of your amendment. Thank you. >> Um okay. So, any other questions or thoughts on that? Okay. So, then we have an amendment on the floor um that we've asked questions for, we've had discussion. So, Dr. Warren, will you please call the role if you and um uh if you are in favor of the consideration and action to amend uh the motion by adding the language uh that this will take uh effect in the 2027 2028 school year. Dr. Warren, will you please call the role? >> Uh, member Ellie Elli, member Yura Elli, Vice Chair Bondo, >> no. >> Uh, me, member Brighten, >> yes. >> Member No. >> Oh, me. >> I'm sorry. I apologize. >> Second. >> Member Lena. >> No. >> Member No. >> Yes.
080>> Member Operman. Yes. >> Member Sautell. >> Yes. >> Student Representative Grant. >> Yes. >> Uh, Chair Lintz. >> Yes. So, the amendment passes um with five board members voting in the affirmative. Um, so now we have an amended motion on the floor. Um, so are there any? Yes, board member Lena. >> I have an amendment. Um it is to change the language on the second bullet point to read in this the last part um from King into Lincoln. >> Can you say that again? >> It used to say it's posted there now. It used to say king into more. >> It says king into more. At least the one that I clicked on. No >> refresh. It could have been an earlier version. Oh, >> the one I'm seeing says king into Lincoln with
081Lincoln updated in yellow. >> Oh, thank you. >> I know. Diligent sometimes it just has to be refreshed. >> Thank you. No amendment from me. >> Perfect. Good. Good eyes though. Um any other uh amendments or discussion? Okay. Then um by roll call vote, please indicate whether you are in favor of the amended uh motion of the middle school attendance uh boundaries recommendation as recommended by the policy committee. Dr. Warren, will you please call the role? >> Member Ellie. Ellie, member Ali, Vice Chair Bondo, >> yes. >> Member Brighten, >> yes. Member Lena, >> yes. Member Norm, >> yes. >> Member Operman, >> yes. >> Member Sautell, >> yes. >> Student Representative Grant, >> yes. >> Chair Lentz, >> yes. So, the amended motion passes. Um, thank you very much. >> Yes. We're just waiting
082to see which executive session we're going to start with. Is that right? No. All right, we're going to take a 10-minute recess. Um, and so we'll come back at 7:32. Uh, and then we'll go into our executive just sessions after we have the right language. Okay. Thank you. Bye Sarah. >> Okay, >> great. Uh, so we are back. Um, and we're going to have a couple of executive sessions and then we'll come back out uh hopefully um to vote. So first we have the consideration and action to enter into executive session. pursuant to one MRSA 4056D for discussion of labor contracts uh for the base unit uh which is the benefit association of school employees and then we have the consideration and action to enter into executive session pursuant to one MRSA 4056A to discuss
083a personnel matter. Um uh is there a motion for those two things? Thank you board member Lena and the second is board member no. All those in favor? One, two, three, four, five. Okay. So, we'll move into executive session and then come back uh for a vote and to adjurnn. I'm just going to look forward to guess what you're saying. >> Thank you. Okay. One, two, three, four, five. Okay, that's good. Um, I just want to make sure that if they're going to join us back on the Zoom, >> we're here. >> Great. Thank you. Um so uh from those executive sessions um we have uh one item to vote on which is the consideration uh an action to ratify the benefit association of school employees which is base contract. Um so I would be
084looking for a motion for that. Thank you board member Brighten. Is there a second? Thank you board member Noir. Are there any questions on the motion? Is there uh any discussion on the motion? Um you ready to roll call then? Let me say one second. Then by roll call vote, please indicate whether you are in favor of uh the ratification of the benefit association of school employees, the base contract. Dr. Scallan, will you please call the role? >> Board member Ali Ali, board member Yusur Ali. Vice Chair Bondo. Yes. >> Board member Brighton. >> Yes. >> Board member Lena. >> Yes. >> Board member no. >> Board member Opperman. >> Yes. >> Board member Sautell. Chair Lince. >> Yes. >> So the motion passes. Thank you very much. Base um exciting um news there. And
085then uh finally I'd make a motion to adjurnn. Is there a second? Thank you board member Lena. All those in favor? So, we are unanimously adjourned at 8:53