001e e e FYI I can't hear anything we start meeting to order welcome everyone um in the room welcome everyone online this is the Bangor school committee regular meeting today's Wednesday October 9th it's right at 7 so we'll go ahead and get started please join me for the pledge flag the United States of America the Republic which stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice all are there any to the agenda we have one adjustment on teacher nomination which is E1 okay can motion please I have second any questions or comments okay and we will do roll call today because member o car is online U we'll just do that for each motion for each you can go ahead with the uh so we're okay with this one yeah okay um so public comments
002and just as a reminder uh a quick statement as always members of the public May address the school committee for up to three minutes on school and education matters public comments shall be directed to the school committee and be brief and not repetitive the school school committee's practice is not to respond or debate with speakers during the public comment period we are here to listen the superintendent or her staff will follow up on comments outside of the meeting as appropriate the committee will not permit profanity or shouting and request that speakers be civil discussion of specific Personnel or student matters and complaints concerning specific employees or students will not be allowed but will be addressed through established policies and procedures before speaking we encourage speakers to review school committee policy AC which provides that the
003committee does not and will not discriminate nor nor tolerate discrimination against students or employees on the basis of membership in a protected class speakers who share comments contrary to this policy will not be allowed to continue do we have any public comments tonight okay seeing none we will move on to superintendent proposals and updates we have no action items but we have several informational items the first one being the Bangor Garden committee presentation um yes the Bangor um Garden committee has been um really instrumental in creating um vibrant Gardens at some of our Bangor schools um I had the opportunity to visit at um AB Lincoln early on and um meet with many of them um and they've really been cultivating a love of gardening with our um students so the Bangor uh Garden committee
004is going to be sharing their experiences in our prek to3 schools and they would like to discuss potential ways of uh how we could grow the gardening program throughout the district thank you um I think we had a PowerPoint presentation do you have that right I see it over there is this the right place to come right up there I see it on his screen while he's pulling that up I'll go ahead and introduce myself and the folks that I have with me today so uh thank you Dr Robinson thank you to the committee for giving us time on the agenda tonight um we're super excited to be here to talk about supporting uh all the garden programs that are happening here in the district um my name is Haley James I am both um
005well by day I'm a public health researcher but today the Hat I'm wearing is a garden volunteer in this program um I have two kiddos in the school district one at Abraham Lincoln one at Mary snow um and I'm joined here by a panel of extreme uh Garden expertise in community organization and Community Connection so oh awesome thank you um so um let me go ahead and intrview so we've got um we're really a group of um community volunteers we're a group of parents we're a group of educators of Staff here in the district and I was going to introduce them a little later but since we went ahead and got started I want to introduce so this is um Laura Otis she's a parent volunteer that's been doing a ton of gardening efforts at
006um uh Fruit Street school and getting their Garden program up um up to speed and I'll talk about their Garden achievements in a little bit we've got Ken Mary's daughter who you're going to see um a lot of fruits from her labor over the years working at several schools including down e Elementary Fair Mount and then she's a mentor over at Abraham Lincoln we have Melissa Gallagher who's the education director at the um Main aabon and based here in Bangor we've got Laura Noble who is I mean you're everything a community activist a pollinator Steward an educator an outdoor educator um has been a tremendous um resource and dedicated member and then we have Lorie Patterson who is the um some of you might know her the um librarian over at dowy middle school has
007gotten their um Garden program off the ground there so we're super excited to be here to talk about supporting Bangor Gardens um as I kind of mentioned um we're this informal group um and we've affectionately named ourselves um the Bangor School Garden Network which is modeled after the name of a fantastic organization based here in M called or based here in Maine called the Maine school garden Network who's already been a tremendous resource to all of our programs and I should mention um we actually represent Garden programs um from prek through High School even so um these are garden programs that are happening across the district in all of our schools or in a lot of the schools I should say so as I mentioned we're School teachers outdoor Educators parent and community volunteers and
008really what's grown this group together is that we've leaned on each other to support support each other in the garden efforts that we're doing now um but we're really looking towards how can we grow this across the district to get every student involved in school garden programs and I do want to know um we've been needing to support each other and and kind of organizing but by no means are we exclusive or exhaustive of all of the garden things that are happening across the district um oh one thing I didn't say I'll go back here every picture you see is from a Bangor School Garden so these are pictures that make us very happy and there's a lot from this harvest season so we hope you enjoy um how full and Rich um this presentation
009is of pictures and I think there's even some of these carrots floating around here carrot Harvest here so I know this is a little small um but we want to talk about what school Gardens are um kind of at a high level School Gardens are this integrated multi-dimensional immersive learning experience and that's a lot of big words what does that mean um we kind of put together what we think school Gardens are are about they're about Hands-On learning is the pointer um I don't know if I'll point on this screen but um you'll see here on Hands-On learning you've got students from Ab Lincoln who were do participating in a seed saving activity and made Bean bracelets and then those are um students um in the um uh Down East Garden learning and participating in
010Harvest and then School Gardens are about working collaboratively I'm sorry these pictures are so small and I can't um kind of guide us through here but under that working collaboratively label you see see these giant beats that students at dowy Middle School are showing off from their Harvest and then they're also showing off the signs that they've created that are in both of pavot and English languages and um again School Gardens about digging in the dirt we're highlighting here you've got some high school students laying out and planning in the dirt the garden beds and then you've got students over at Fruit Street preparing that land for a native pollinator garden and native plants um and thank to Laura Otis's um kind dedicated work here they just received the human um designation for a certification
011for pollinator Garden um over at Fruit Street um down here on the far right um growing a healthier future this part's really cool so again we've got some dowy students showing the carrots that they've harvested this season and then I don't know if you can quite see it but there's little orange orange um highlight in the middle there and two two individuals those same carrots were um served up in their cafeteria by their cook so kind of a full circle moment there and then finally you've got some more orange there you've got students with just an abundance of tomatoes from their tomato crop and they're actually weighing that to weigh the impact of what they're doing and then School Gardens are about learning about nutrition you've got um students making these um these fruit Critters
012and then preparing the very um vegetables that they've been growing for snacks for them and their classmates and then finally um Gardens are about taking care of each other and the Earth um this is the Abraham Lincoln School Garden um sign on a community workday and that uh program is really modeled uh around um around the core value that Gardens are about um learning how to be kind to ourselves being kind to others and being kind to the Earth so this is what school Gardens are about and then um uh how does that tie into the goals for the district and the state so as you can see uh what we talked about I mean these opportunities provide these critical life skills which ties into you know these diverse instructional experiences um they allow space
013for finding empowering sense of purpose which is truly about improving mental health for these students and then the research shows us that they create opportunities for closer connections within the schools particularly with those teachers with the trusted adults um and then also with the wider Community their individual communities so really um communicating value and of course so much more um I show this slide because not only is there a rich group of expertise and resources um in this group but we are so lucky to be based in Maine and specifically in Bangor because this is such a rich community of resources this is by no means an exhausted list but these are all organizations that have either already supported the gardens that are happening here in Bangor or have reached out to express their interest
014in saying how can we support how can we partner um so today we're really starting the conversation to introduce ourselves to say we exist out there we're out there supporting Gardens um but there's a lot of engagements we could could further um to really um grow our garden programming across the district and so that really wraps us up uh we again just want to thank you for your time um this has been a really wonderful opportunity um for us and uh we just wanted to leave maybe a moment or two for any questions or comments well I I just wanted to thank you for such a beautiful presentation thank you all I I love the um the knowledge that students can blean from this but also you know the hands and also there's a a
015growing body of research that shows the outdoors the connection with outdoors and mental health um impact and and how wonderful it is for mental health and so this is amazing thank you so much any questions remember Bren um thank you truly so much all of you for putting this presentation together for taking the time out and it really can't be said enough how grateful we are for the continual volunteer hours that you all put in to make this possible for all of our schools um the fact that there are so many volunteers that have come together to make this happen is truly incredible and I would love to know more about how well one we can help you all as a school committee in terms of growth opportunity connection um and in that question could
016you share a little bit more about how this is operating at each school is it specific to a volunteer that's identified at each school and then they're responsible for running it or is there a way that we can ensure there's equity in every single one of the schools yeah and and I'm just the speaker tonight we collectively put this presentation together and work on this so I'll say a few comments but then I definitely want to open it up to my colleagues um to speak to that I know in the immediate term one of the things that we would love is to actually just have a little bit more time there's tools that exist time with you all to understand you know maybe goals or visions that you all have that the district has for
017um School Gardens um again through prek to 12th grade um and so um there's tools that exist that some of these organizations have that help facilitate you know making goals and and um coming up with a vision um I know um Katie as you said a lot of this is just volunteer-based right even the teachers and the staff that are involved they're volunteering their time above and beyond so right now I mean my comment my observation from being involved as the short amount of time I have since 2022 is you know it really depends on volunteers so if that volunteer has moves or you know life situation changes right you may lose a program um because again it's so Centric and that's why this group has form to support each other and make it Beyond
018you know relying on just one person but also talking about system solutions that could help make this more than dependent on on just individual volunteers but I also want to open it up to to the RO I can talk briefly about how we do it at Fruit Street um or or or my strategy for it at Fruit Street was that um Fruit Street in particular has uh on on again off again relationship with gardening there have been great efforts in the past but then that particular person leaves the district leaves the school and then it just goes um Bary for a while um so when I came on board part of my pitch to Mr for was that I um I wanted to and I got this idea from my group um to have it
019be a part of the PTO and have it be so you're going to have a PTO at the school you're going to have your president your Treasurer um your secretary and so now there is I don't I don't know what my official title is but Garden Guru I don't know um but I've promised that I'm going to be there until I have my own little poan that I drain and pass the torch on to um so I also designed the garden to be the beauty of native plants is that they need very low maintenance and they adapt very quickly and they'll just use the water that's there um so part of the strategy having maintenance going forward um but I also want to make sure that before I even started there was some measure of
020sustainability built in and having it be a part of the PTO an official recognized part of the agenda every month um has been really great and I think um very promising and I I I personally will be in the school for a while having three sons and my youngest is only three so um you're stuck with me Mr cor um but I also promised that I wouldn't back away until I had somebody in place to take a word so can I ask what what the Takeover looks like if someone not the take over but if someone were to um to volunteer who do they reach out to is it the PTO or uh yes so I regularly I try to grab whoever I can so um there I gotten volunteers from people just seeing me
021in fromont the garden weeding before and after school and they're like oh I'm waiting for my kid can I help and then we'll just exchange names I actually have a pretty good list of some solid families that have come and volunteered regularly uh through the PTO I have formed my own committee my own garden committee that I check in with regularly and they help me reach out and get volunteers um but going through the PTO has been a great source of like they're always asking for volunteers for festivals and things and this is just one more thing that they can volunteer for excellent thank you I think member of Ryden has yeah just a followup to that sorry then um thank you Laura I I think that that is a really strategic and smart way
022to do it um but just to I know all of you have experiences and I know that there is inequities in PTO involvement and that level of Engagement so without a PTO without an active PTO or without um that level of excitement or even the number of humans to go around for all of the Committees that exist can someone speak to how we could support a group or help funnel that energy if there wasn't an active PTO um thank you thanks Laura my name is Jane Freeman my name is Jane Freeman a project transition special teacher here at the high school and um so I with Donna Martin who's an in Tech we coordinate the garden at bmount school that's after school Century 21 Grant Focus but here is curriculum math science English social studies
023we have a garden going and we're going to make a courtyard Garden um soon as the construction is done any day now um in the back of the school because our window our classroom looks out on it but we actually one of the things that you can do to support us is just come out and dig in the dirt I know we have promise from our assistant superintendent that as soon as we get our delivery of wood for raised beds so now she's really on the buck and dig in the dirt and it would be very awesome for people to come out Bare Mount we meet on Mondays from 3 to about 410 and actually on the 21st we're going to be cooking up some of the things that we harvested and um it's really
024about harvesting food not just because we like Garden but for the needy and donations of foods whether it's a food pantry or a shelter it's about food security thank you and to confirm that's through project uh Century 21 is that what you said yes so that's the after school program for Century excuse me I me those words would come to and then um just we decided to do gardening here at the high school because Dr Butler's a big fan of it and um he's been very very supportive in some funds and things like that that we need and um so it's been great and the kids can't wait to get out and dig in the dirt M spr and M thank you just to Echo member brien's words of thanks and gratitude uh food is
025a tremendous Touchstone for Education because it unites us all but there's also lessons of ecology economics when you think of how Corporate and distant our food system is teaching kids where food comes from It's a Wonderful act almost a re uary act in some ways and I mean that in a positive way so thank you uh I don't know if there's an easy answer to this but how does a student find their way to these programs is it vary by schools it sounds like it might be an after school club in certain regards um just curious about that I think I can speak but I'm gon I'm gonna look to them to see if they nod their heads while I talk um uh so typically in after school program um I can speak to a
026Lincoln is an after school program and again we we this is our second cohort of students we started with second graders so they could plant in the in the spring and then come back as third graders and harvest so they kind of had that full cycle so we we chose one grade right and worked with them and so it's open to all students um I'm looking at Michelle we don't turn anyone down so we basically open it to the entire grade and then figure out how to make it work and we've had a huge interest um we're actually that's kind of one of my learning goals right now is learning how to work with such a big group because we wanted them all to experience Harvest and not to break that up so I think
027it's been typically an after school group is that right Lori for yours Dy yeah in any grade at Dy yes any gr and after school group at ATT 10 and then at I guess down east it was an after school group open to gr second graders in the spring and third graders in the okay there also teachers there's a few teachers degree oh yeah definitely there's teachers so there's definitely teachers there um helping with the programs I definitely know that a lincol that as well and then when I was putting in the when I was putting in the pollinator Garden at BR Street I had this unique opportunity to get all the kindergarteners I think there's I missed one student to that he was s but I promised to send him home with some scenes
028or um but I managed to plant about 60 of the plants with all of the kindergarten BR Street it was just quick 20 minute sessions they pre- dug the holes but in it was 20 minutes the kids just they bonded and over the next few weeks the kids would would come to up to me and I could Poss remember all of their names but they come up to me and like can I give you a hug and they write new little notes and they dragg their grandparents over to show them the plant that they put in so even just 20 minutes one week in during the springtime was a huge impact on these little kids you thanks yeah first I want to thank you so much for the presentation and for all your work and
029I I do want to amplify marva's comments about the importance of gardening on mental health and really being a lifelong learning experience for students that many of them will carry those gardening skills into their adult life too so that's wonderful and I and I want to amplify Ben's comment about learning about where our food com comes from so important and there is such a disconnect the one question I have and and I completely understand if the question if the answer is we don't know so I maybe I'm just wondering I'm wondering if other large school districts in Maine uh who have invested in gardening I wonder if they have some type of paid um salaried position it could be a stien in position similar to an advisor or a you know Co some within the
030extracurricular budget so it looks like someone has an answer i' just be curious if that exists what that position down on the hill Peninsula um at uh it's bookville Community School um they have paid person started out as a volunteer then she was at tech for a couple years you know she got a couple hours a week and now she's full time in every single classroom works either in their Greenhouse or Gardens and so she is paid for that but it took quite a few years to get that going and a lot of talk to the school boards and other people but throughout Maine There Are Places all over the state of Maine in schools um I kind of got my own starts regarding is after listening to a talk more than 20 25 years
031ago that from um Belfast because they did at the star garden and I was like we can do this anywhere you know it's really people wanting to do this like the people here and teachers but more importantly you know and people don't always like to say this they're definitely is a financial component it's not huge really when you think of how expensive so many things in education are you know like if you're going to build a phas bed it's the wood in the soil to get it going seeds are just nothing and people donate seeds all the time so um and um but throughout the state of Maine if you want I can certainly gather a list together um for all of you but it's great to go out I mean just in where I
032live in elworth Ellsworth Elementary School has a school garden there um Dam I think does uh Trenton Community School MDI um and I can always speak for that area since I live closer to that are but almost every school in that area as a school garden and some have had it for more than 20 years and they're still going strong they do a lot of family work days they do like a Earth Day where families come out and you know and obviously not every family can come out on a weekend or come out on a holiday so they try to schedule things at various times during the year and I know um uh Barbara Stewart who's a science teacher here we've been talking a lot about how can we get families to come out and
033do work days and even if it's a half hour that they can get 15 minutes any amount of time is good so and we work closely with her too um so that sort of we got one more I think oh just briefly um so very quickly I had an opportunity to go to main Farm to see in school uh Institute this summer they just asked uh for they had an opening um and it's just a perfect example of these organizations who are out there like Food Corp and Main Farm to see in school and see to school um who are there and ready to support a school department on boarding they've got it all they basically they have excuse me what schools they oh they we I'm going to totally draw blank said who was
034there um they were in Southern Maine and I don't want to missp speak um Westbrook was there uh they have a large program um there were I should have prepped that I apologize there were four School departments on boarding um but essentially they're there with your school department as you're going through that process of planning out how it's going to look school department wide and your cafeteria folks are there if possible um but there's a a list of of Partners or people who need to participate that day or that week those three days um and they have everything ready for you and it takes you through your goal setting so they're setting goals they're helping you kind of formulate your plan uh and develop a a list of how your year is going to go
035so that full Community Partners slide Just One Last Thing those are the folks and more like hay was saying uh who are here for us and uh able to pitch in and support us as we plan with your permission and vision so thank you thank you you remember jro has so clearly food is all very important to this entire committee and I just wanted to um say that these are great programs and we had one I think at Vine Street school for a while and then we ended up with the black thumb um PTO person who can't Garden um without you know kind of halfhazard Le right um so that program over there has kind of dwindled and we want to get it back up and running but I think that from our perspective I
036think opportunity for some like cross District PTO collaboration so and I think we've talked in the past about how we get PTO leaders from the various schools to come together so that we could share best cratic from one group to another so if you have you know the lead at your PTO right and you're the garden Guru over there how do we identify someone in each school or each PTO so that they can mentor each other and then ensure that those PTO programs are kind of collaborating and can fill in for gaps if there is a gap here right because I think if it does take just some time here or there so I think it's a great opportunity um and we've talked a lot about like how we get the schools more integrated with
037each other and how we learn more about cross District things so this might be a fabulous opportunity um to kind of start that make that happen I'll add one more just to go back to Tim's question so one of the resources to when when we talk about facilitating our vision and our goals typically the pathway to success means funded roles right and I think the PTO is essential and you kind of embedded into the culture and the parents and the community um but when you look at these districts again I'm I'm also blanking it's because we do this RSU number thing and how do you ever remember the numbers of these districts but of um you know these organizations like Food Corp where they send in and they they sponsor someone to come work in
038your District it's or schools for two years but then the district decides to keep that position and and hirers on and then that way the one I'm thinking about is outside of unity and now they have a special so just like PE and music everyone has this kind of agriculture in the classroom special um at the schools that um this person serves at so I do I do think that Timmy brought up an important point that from what we're learning in our research that funded position seems to be one of the critical um pieces yeah go ahead num oh well thank you and then that was that was really helpful and I what I'm sort of getting at here is and I i' be interested in your thoughts on it is do you see value
039or would you see value in some person who is sort of coordinating these efforts system wise absolutely thank you I just want to put in like a two cent rally for supporting the teachers as well like if you had a funded position like that would be one of these huge benefits is that like not only could they Network and connect with all the families who are interested in volunteering these Gardens but also there the the thought is just that teachers are you know working in their different departments trying to teach multiple subjects to many many students who have multiple learning abilities and interests and things like that but one of the very interesting things that happens in the garden is you have this integrated opportunity right but to get a teacher who's like been solely
040focused on mathematics in the classroom to get you know to take those steps and like move them outside and doing mathematics like there's a there's a whole journey that happened and it's not just through the hallways um and so like like having the support for the teachers like that I think is is is a critical component so that they feel confident in moving smoothly and easily thank you thank you member Bri thank you and I I um I do fully agree with everything that you're saying and I think that we all obviously recognize the many facets that gardening can offer to us which is why I emplore our committee to actually think a little bit more critically Beyond just volunteers and looking at school volunteers I the problem is equity the problem is which schools
041have parents that can show up in these places and if we consistently use this model that we already talk constantly about not working we're just going to add another thing to that bucket so I would love for this committee to come back and revisit ways that we can talk about these options we can look at that list of resources that already exist in our communities so that it's not just an Afterschool Club that's run by a teacher that's having to switch hats or a parent who happens to have that time available but we're thinking critically about what does this look like for Food Services what does this look like for our science programs what does this look like from a mental health perspective the opportunities are boundless and so I I'm thankful for this work
042that's being done and I'm really hopeful that we as a committee can come back and think a little bit more critically about ways that we can get more involved in supporting this long term thank you excellent thank you all so so much we appreciate your time tonight you okay so are moving on and yes please feel free to and the carrots are from the they're so good I thank you okay so we will move on to PBIS update Dr Robinson um so at this time we will have principles of Shannon Shaw and Sarah Vickers I'll come up to give the committee an update on our PBIS good evening thank you very much for allowing principal Victor and I this opportunity to give you an update um I know you've been hearing a lot about pbas
043so um this is a chance to show you what we've been working on since the last time we presented looks good from my perspective thank you um so the first question um is what is pis um I think it gets confused sometimes with being a program that we're implementing and it isn't it's a framework um where we collect best practices um in a tiered format to support all students and their needs um it's a collection of interventions it's a collection of strategies um and different supports um and we focused heavily in the last two years in Bangor on implementing tier one so what do we provide for all students um and why are we doing that it's a great question um we talk a lot about best disciplinary um practices and traditionally we've been very
044reactive um I think in schools in general over a long time um punishment based strategies um you know solely focusing on reprimands and privileges loss and referrals and suspensions and we know we need to change those practices and and think about things a little bit more differently so PBIS focuses on those proactive pieces the education teaching and modeling appropriate behaviors um is crucial and it really is what tier one is all about there's a lot of explicit teaching there's a lot of modeling there's a lot of practicing there's a lot of reminding and supporting um and the other piece to that that can't be overstated is the positive reinforcements that come along with that um we're acknowledging students um when they are making improvements in those areas when they have um shown us expected behaviors
045in our schools um and this really po uh Fosters a really positive environment in the school for all um the purpose is we want a positive climate we want schools to be a place where students feel like you know I belong here I know what's expected of me I feel safe here because my peers are safe and you know um we're coming together um it shifts us from being that reactive to Mis Behavior to being very proactively and teaching positive behaviors U the benefits are um many it reduces incidences of misbehaviors um in unsafe situations improves academic outcomes because students learn how to be Learners um teachers learn how to support students um in the ways that they need to be supportive um it improves their social social interactions which lends to belonging because they
046um have connections with their peers um their peers accept them they learn how to work collaboratively um really enhancing overall well-being for students um and what is required is a commitment from the whole staff in a school this can't be like some of us are going to do this and some of us are going to continue with those old practices it has to be a commitment from everyone um and I would say in a district too right like the district commits to this is the the um direction in which we are headed um it requires for sustainability on goinging training um support um a lot of analyzing um data collection things like that because we're not going to continue to do things that are ineffective um so that is a very key piece that flexibility
047this isn't working for our students based on the data we're collecting so how do we shift um and make those kinds of changes because it is all about the students and are they successful and that's the measure that we use so the overall impact um and we're definitely seeing this in our schools is cultivating a positive atmosphere and climate in the schools and it is benefiting all students um and the entire School Community a lot of celebrations happening in schools around um Collective earning of Rewards um for positive behaviors and individual acknowledgements as well I'm going turn it over to principal viers uh thank you again for having us um so we have done a lot of work over the past uh two years we are in year three of our cohort with training with
048main PBIS and the main Department of Education um and so this year a huge Focus for us is sustainability we won't have um the trainings that we attend throughout the year after this year and so really looking at what we put into place and making sure we can sustain moving forward um as principal sha said this is not just a program that we're going to do and then put to the side it's something that we're looking to build and move forward um so I'm going to kind of talk through the work that we've done over the past two years uh we have conducted surveys using our tiered Fidelity inventory so twice a year we measure how valid and how much we're implementing with Fidelity and always look to build that when we take that inventory
049it gives us clear guidelines as to what our next action steps are to go to build up our inventories or to improve our scores um twice a year parents teachers and students are asked for input using our school climate surveys and we take that information and again change practices that need to be changed improve on what we've learned um and make adjust adjustments as needed um the district uses Swiss to identify students behaviors and behavior Trends um and then there we look for areas that we need to strengthen instruction or areas of improvement that staff need to use to work with students where they're coming in and what their levels are we're always refining and expanding on what we've done and so the what's wonderful about PBIS is it's flexible and if something is not
050working uh buildings have the flexibility to adjust um as needed every uh school has developed School matrices and expectations and we've sought feedback um through parents staff students um and adjusted as needed we are developing a district team that is looking at building consistency across the district and they are meeting uh frequently to make sure that uh consistency happens but all for schools to continue to have their individuality uh we are putting a lot of work into professional development for staff and providing opportunities for trainings uh schools use are creative knowing that there's never enough time um but taking five minutes of a staff meeting or grade level times or other professional meeting times to provide training to staff on best practices good strategies um and looking at the data and how we can improve
051um and then principal Shaw had mentioned as well we're doing a lot of celebrating of all the wonderful things that are happening in buildings for students and for staff uh we wanted to include some examples of what is up in our buildings and posted um so this is just an example of one of our Behavior matrices that have been made um and is a guide to build that consistency for students and for staff of what's expected in the building we wanted to really highlight that part of this is student acknowledgement and we are acknowledging students for demonstrating expected behaviors and making improvements um throughout their days on their behavior um and every school is really creative and how they're doing that so we wanted to make sure that that was highlighted and that we have
052days that we're celebrating great attendance or improved improved behaviors uh a couple things that schools are using lots of ram awards are being given out um the prek to 5 elementary schools were all awarded a book vending machine uh through a grant last year and we're utilizing PBIS to acknowledge students um but also boost literacy um with the book vending machine uh visits to the office for Trinkets and toys uh Mary snow highlighted that they do table for two at lunchtime which is an option for students so not just the item that you get to take home but some experiential um acknowledgement as well um so our coaches and smaller PBIS teams are attending workshops uh through PBIS and then bringing that information back to build that sustainability uh we have utilized teacher Academy and
053some of our March in service days to provide some professional development for staff uh it's been over we've had overwhelming feedback that those have been the days um that have been most helpful for staff to either work together as a building or work together as a district to to be able to collaborate and plan um and support each other with this framework uh every building has a coach and those coaches um are supporting staff through pushing into classrooms and providing feedback holding uh training sessions for teachers uh peer observations and trying to build that culture of uh giving feedback and improving uh best practices uh I think the schools do a really great job of including the community and we all hold different events throughout the year whether it be Peak nights or festivals um
054and many schools are building in PBIS right into those evenings to make sure that we keep that Community component um and that the community is involved that this is important to us and it's important to students and we want it supported uh and we're always going back and monitoring and evaluating um as I mentioned before we are bu we've developed a district team um and one of our goals is that we're going to develop a three to fiveyear plan starting this year knowing that we won't have the support of uh the doe and Main PBIS and so how do we sustain long-term in the district and what do we need to do to make sure we're consistent across the district so what I would say is stay tuned to that um it's really comprehensive it
055includes policy review and budget pieces and stakeholder engagement so it's it's a big process um and we're kind of in those beginnings stages but knowing that um we want this to continue on so when thinking about how there are always lots of questions around data and where does the data come from and what are we doing with that data so I wanted to provide you with some data from down East because that's what I can speak most clearly to um we are a school of 86% free and reduced lunch um when I started in 2021 you can see there's this huge increase in uh office referrals was also a year that we added two additional um special education classrooms uh so that year our data was fairly skewed we had um all of our special
056education classrooms using Swiss as well and so it kind of skewed our data and who was requiring support and what practices were in place uh the following year we started in the PBIS cohort and you can see those uh numbers dropped drastically but what we also did is we learned how to collect data for students that were requiring a higher level support they all still get tier one interventions but it's a better refle reflection of um how we're collecting data what I will say is that we then took that data um and I will just ask you to take two and pass it around um we have developed an office referral flowchart to kind of indicate what is managed in the classroom and what needs to be managed by the office um but then we
057also worked on our office referral form and providing staff with definition um for Behavior but also what are ways that you can respond to behavior we take all that data assess what's happening in the building and then make adjustments through there um and so there's lots of talks about how we're looking at data and how we're supporting students so that's where we're getting some of our office that's where we're getting a lot of our data sources from um and what I will say is is that this was our Fidelity inventory at the end of last year with our Swiss data and that Tri triangle is exactly what it's supposed to look like so more than 80% of students are getting what they need with those tier one interventions and then it's the you know 15%
058at the top that are requiring tier two and tier three interventions so what I would say is PBIS is working um we are fortunate enough that um some of our schools have been uh accepted into the advanced TI uh Group which I'm going to talk about in a minute so we're really looking at now how do we really support students that are requiring additional support um when I was thinking about also how do we present data to you and to the community um we talk a lot about bringing down office referrals and suspension information but also there's lots of really great things that are happening um down east has really struggled with student attendance and we've put a lot of work into building that back up and PBIS has a part of that um so
059you can see the trend that we are increasing and just a comparison from last September till now we're up two percentage points so we're doing a ton of work and PBIS is part of that um so as I said we've had a couple schools that have been accepted into the advanced TI cohort that is a two-year commitment um our hope is that we get that training and then again building on that sustainability bring it back to the district and how do we support districtwide with those tier 2 and tier three interventions and supports so to kind of wrap us up um it is PBIS is more than just discipline and student behavior um it's about developing a positive schoolwide culture and a sense of belonging um we focus on root causes and taking it's all
060data driven um and talking about what is the function of the behavior um and it's not a manualized program our our goal is that um we measure student Behavior collect data um and make sure that we are supporting students all the way through any questions thank you both so much that was very helpful I remember when we started um a couple years ago there was a lot of fear right there's a lot of fear about this and I heard it in the community um kind of exactly what you alluded to right it's a disciplinary program but we fear what we don't know so this was very helpful and I love how you broke it down and I have just a couple questions um unless anyone else wants to go first no um so um you
061talked a little bit about the positive impact and that was really helpful um what are the areas of weaknesses maybe um not to put you on the spot but um other than sustainability and I think that's a big one right Paramount and consistency across the district but what other weaknesses do you think are area of improvement that you would like to see us get to as a district I have a couple of ideas you want me to um certainly um principal Victor's talked advaned tiers that is crucial it's not just the tier one we have to get to supporting all students in the ways that they need so contined work on that and we're we're starting in that direction so support for that um and whatever that uncovers as we um roll out those supports
062for students um the other thing is um funding um we provide a lot of experiences for students you know to encourage this kind of behavior we provide a lot of rewards and celebrations and so in order to be sustainable um you know there has to be some kind of budget line there for each school in order to support students so I would say those are two areas and I would say the other one um staff is always looking for more time um professional development time and so finding time to do that and honoring that request if teachers are asking for it then I think we've got honor that for them and something just one I guess not a question but a comment that I always um remind the the community members of is that this
063was highly recommended by our mental health uh advisory uh committee and it's really helpful that they felt and it consists of um guidance counselors or school counselors and um social workers and psychologists and so forth but they highly recommend this recommended this program as something that helps with mental health um and uh supporting the mental health of our students so I think this is important to note as well so yeah great work um and member Brighton and member s thank you thank you both for this presentation um I really appreciate and I love all of this data and the way in which the tracking has been so help ful because to chair Hon's point it is confusing for lack of a better word when you know um your I know that all of our students
064care deeply about their Ram Awards or depending on what school they go to what it's called but understanding how that looks in every school and and how we are maybe truly addressing all of the needs of our students with PBIS is something that I am asked about constantly so I appreciate that you've brought of the the tier 2 and tier three schools that have been accepted into the program I think the language that you use can you explain that a little bit more about what that acceptance looks like and how we might be what that means for for parents who are maybe thinking my kid's not motivated by PBIS what what how is this working for them will that address it um there is a little bit of criteria through uh the doe I mean
065PBIS you had to escort at least an 80% on your Fidelity inventory um and there is some wiggle room around that um principal Shaw and I felt confident that our schools were ready um and he talked to some of the the trainers that we were working with that we were ready to do that um our hope with the district team is that we can help bring all schools there and so um I would say lots of schools are really really close um so help bringing that like one of our plans is to come together with our inventories what artifacts have we created and how do we share that wealth and not recreate recreate the wheel throughout the district um a perfect example of that is a staff handbook so making sure that there's one that
066exists for everybody and how we're going to implement training for that so um it was a really easy application it was pretty much that criteria and then making sure you have the the district's support to implement I would just add um to that if you jump into your higher tiers too early you don't have a foundation of this is what we do for all students the whole system is going to crumble so there's that criteria of you know we have to have these things in place for all children if we're not doing these things for all children we're not meeting everyone's needs then we look at more intensive supports thank you very much both of you thank you remember thank you um yeah thank you for this report enjoyed it i' I'm a long longtime
067fan of PBIS and I was very excited when when we adopted it here I I want to ask about recognition of making improvements because I think this is a a really important piece and I think there's some misperception sometimes in the community about this piece and I I want to use attendance just as a sort of an example and and then I'd like to hear about ways in which we're we're reinforcing improvements and not just simply meeting a certain Target or certain expectations so so for example I I know well I know at my own Children's School they they're receiving an award each month if they get 95% um attendance they receive a a nice little um yeah recognition of of doing that so if you're a student let's say you're a student in your
068family that struggles with with getting to school and during September you didn't reach that 95% maybe you maybe you got 60% and then but during October you did an amazing job and you you got all the way up to 85% or 90% would they how can how are we going to recognize that kid uh for that Improvement even though they didn't hit that 95% Target how are we going to recognize them for that Improvement and and also similarly with with behaviors as well and sort of recognizing that Improvement thank you I I can't speak directly to that recogition system um however um we have these book vending machines you know and so if students Ram awards are chosen they get those but we also use that as an incentive for some of our students behavior
069plans um that we you know there's accessibility for all students to these rewards and it's based on what is their best right what what is a reasonable expectation you know for for these students um and they're showing effort they're showing Improvement we're going to celebrate that because we want them to keep trying we want them to come back every day um so while we have these sort of schoolwide systems there are lots of smaller systems happening to make sure that all of these other students are being supported friend for saying that yeah I think the other piece to say to that is that the program is flexible and so I will speak to Downy last year we recognize students at the end every month for perfect attendance um and it was really successful in building
070it but we realized towards the end of the school year and kind of making a shift into this year that we wanted to set some more goals for students and so that everybody can be involved understanding that at an elementary level is sometimes out of our students control um and so we've shifted to meeting a Target at the end of each month and the whole school um gets to participate in something I was down east went to conin on October 2nd because we reached our goal so those sort of things are happening that's helpful thank you thank you so much apprciate you moving on to a superint update thank you um so we have several updates um already heard two wonderful presentations um but a few things I just wanted to highlight um from the
071schools um on October 1st um James FD had the the start of the guest server lunch program uh the city of Bangor the public works department was there serving lunch they had their um big machines there I was able to pop by and the kids were having a great time so that was wonderful um back um I believe this was back you know last year at some point with the uh wind damage it was wind damage to the Cohen roof so that's circling back um we're in communication with uh there's some insurance coverage some FEMA coverage so that is being addressed and not um all with within the budget so there's some support there um we we've been looking and talking as an administrative team about working um diligently to increase parent communication um and
072we've been fortunate to um have a s'more um there they're called s'more newsletters which you've seen because we're all sending them out but in different form in different uh ways um but really trying to have some consistent uh regular communication to support um families um and this is a translatable newsletter so it's really beneficial in that way um principal Vickers just mentioned it uh but I wanted to highlight that Downey School met their 95% attendance goal for the month of September so um that's wonderful news and there is currently um a grant being worked on to support all grade two students uh to attend Roger Farm in the spring um in terms of the district uh i' I met with our director of civil rights um Dana Carver baller uh to re kind of look
073at restructuring our deib um committee um really looking at developing two groups there a working um a working group that would consist of community and parent experts um and then there would be also um an additional team within the district that would work collaboratively um with them and and really looking at I know there's been a lot of um work done in the past few years and now we have a lot of recommend the overarching goal this year is going to be how do we take these initiatives that have previously been identified and move them into an actionable timeline um so we'll be there'll be more information coming um from that uh based on our our policy bbab or student representatives to the board we have formed a committee to select a second student representative
074so that Sophia has a a partner um and that that team includes myself principal Butler um director Carver Baler and member o Cary so we are going to meet um we have many many interested students so we should we're hopeful that we will have that selection um soon um and I'm participating in a professional learning myself called um igniting passion retaining teachers to improve learning through Innovative and personalized professional development so I'm excited about this it's a five um session online cohort and it's um Nationwide connections with um administrators across the country to really think about how we um make sure that the professional learning that we're providing to our staff is Meaningful and relevant to the work that they're doing so so important um at my uh pquest meeting uh they had a a
075liaison from University of Maine to share that the teacher preparation enrollment is up by 20% so that's u a wonderful celebration and uh the updates on the measure what matters um there is a timeline of the end of this month or possibly November that we should get um the information that was gathered by the state in terms of um the you know the session that we had that evening and um we'll be discussing that at our district team once we get that to determine what the next steps will be um for here you know to take that information and actually make it again into some usable information that's going to help us move forward thank you great um moving on to report of reassignments I'd like to report the following reassignments fany Grant from special
076education teacher 0 five project transition and 0 five multiple handicap at the regional program at Bangor High School to special education teacher project transition at Bangor High School Tracy Reen from special education teacher 05 self-contained classroom and5 mult handicap program at Mary snow to special ed teacher self-contained classroom at Mary snow thank you next report of resignations I have the following resignations to report uh Kelly hustel 0.25 IEP coordinator Bangor High School Robert Young JV basketball coach Bangor High School Kobe Rogerson boy freshman baseball coach Bangor High School okay and next we have report of retirements we have one retirement Tammy Cormier grade six teacher at the William S cullin schol thank you we're moving on to business action items and the first action item is U minutes for the regular meeting of September 25th
0772024 need a motion second and have a roll call so chair yes member Brien yes member Luciano yes member o Cary yes joh yes yes next we have uh Personnel we have nominations of a teacher um I would like to recommend uh the following teacher for the 2024 2025 school year with a one-year probationary contract um and that is Isaac bushway I'm going to ask uh principal Miss brener to come up and say a few words um Mr bushway is here this evening so thank you so much for joining us tonight thank you Dr Robinson for the opportunity and good evening chair H and members of members of the committee uh great pleasure to to introduce Mr Isaac bushe who's who's standing behind um so just a a few words about Isaac is I think
078he takes great pride and I think all of us can take great pride um and the fact that he's a product of our school department um Isaac attended 14th Street School Fairmont School Mr moing wanted me to make sure that I stress that he attended the Jamesy school um and is graduate of of Bangor High School um following his his experience here in our schools he attended Huston University and earned a degree in elementary education uh for us at at home he's a familiar face uh he he did his student teaching with us uh half of that time uh in the sixth grade um the other part in um in our self studies department and and since then has been a has worked in a supportive role in our school so he's been in in
079a lot of classrooms and worked with a lot of children and supported faculty and uh beyond that he's also uh been a part of our co- and extracurricular activities uh for the last few years uh so we're uh the team and I at at Cohen School are are really excited to um to to welcome uh Isaac in a different and now in a new capacity and we feel he's going to do a great job um if I may Dr Robinson I I just want to thank Mrs Cormier I Mrs Cormier was hired in 1989 um and she's only been in two places in the school department uh only a Bangor Mary snow school and Cohen at recent years so I had the the pleasure of working with her um well I worked at the Mary
080snow School longtime fourth grade teacher um and certainly it was a pleasure to have her uh join the col faculty in recent years but she's just a tremendous person excellent teacher and I just want to thank her publicly for um all of her years of of of work with children over time in the magar school department absolutely thank you so much and and welcome Mr Bush welcome um so moving on to oh well I need a motion second a roll call okay chair henan yes member Brion yes member Luciano yes member oir yes mro yes member SP yes member yes we will move on to extra Duty assignment I am uh recommending a approval of the following extra Duty assignments for 2024 2025 Jamie jarvis5 National Honor Society at Bangor High School and Jan venturelli
081five National Honor Society at Bangor High School thank you can I get a motion please so moov second any questions or comments pH call Sher yes member Brien yes member Luciano yes member oery yes yes moving on to donations and they'll be shared by member s to Downey school from realy of Maine a cash donation to support students having a total dollar value of 100 to 14th Street School from machia Savings Bank a cash donation to support students having a total dollar value of 250 to Abraham Lincoln school from the Bangor Elks Lodge dictionaries for all grade three students having a total dollar value of 150 to Fairmount school from Tri Corp Federal Credit Union campaign for ending hunger a cash donation for the backpack program having a dollar value of 1,053 to down e
082school from the Bangor Elks Lodge dictionaries for all grade three students having a total dollar value of 300 I move to accept with thanks second with gratitude roll call please chair yes member Brion yes member Luciano yes member o car yes please M yes M yes and M yes we will move on now to committee updates but first any comments and or questions from the Committee Member I would like to just make a quick comment um Mr M Runner obviously gave a very um gracious and generous um thanks and gratitude Mrs Cormier uh and I cannot do the same because I only unfortunately um had the pleasure of having her be my child sixth grade teacher for a short time but I will say in that short amount of time um my child has had
083an exceptional experience moving into Middle School um and and I not only has Mrs forier been such a great support to her class I know that even the siblings of students that have had Mrs Cormier know her feel supported and she knows them by name even if they haven't even gotten to Cohen yet which I think just speaks to her real love and attention as a teacher and she will be sorely missed um and Mr Bush also heard a lot about you so I am very excited that you will be joining with all happy thoughts and um excitement about you moving into this but it's nice to hear a familiar name that you hear in your own home about you know who your child is interacting with so we're really we're really grateful that you
084will be coming on welcome any other comments or questions no okay um do we have any Representatives reports maybe UTC yes a quick one um as you know we have been working diligently on this equipment Bond um which required 39 different towns to sign warrant um and have them approved by their Council and their sheriffs and um their clerks to get on the ballot and we are excited to share that all 39 PS have accepted that and the bond uh will be on bang Wars ballot so not I know that uh member CET and I have shared multiple times how incredibly this will serve the UTC Community it's an equipment bond that has never before come up uh for the school to be able to really improve the equipment that they had access to that
085only goes to better serve the students there and their experience is working with a multitude of really upto-date highquality equipment so we're thrilled about this being on the ballot we are hopeful for everyone's um support and if you have any questions or want to learn more there is a public meeting on October 15th at 6 pm at UTC which is on Hogan Road um it's a great opportunity to learn more see UTC in person um and see what how this equipment will better serve our students so we uh encourage you all to join if you are able remember s do you want to put in a pitch for the community what's that he's politically swaying just kidding um I will add this there is going to be some great materials informational materials coming from um
086director Peterson uh to us that we're going to share with all of you and we hope that you'll share it within your networks and get the good word out advocate for this um and it's going to do great things for the for the UTC Community thank you both and last but not least student Committee Member update from Member creso good evening everyone I just wanted to start off by saying the seniors took the SAT today and if they didn't they were able to tour UMaine EMCC you Augusta at Bangor and husten which was a wonderful opportunity while all the underclassmen were taking PSATs um this is a really special announcement um as we gear up for homecoming week um our spirit week themes are being improved as we speak um we're also really excited to
087announce that students call out to all of our Bangor football fans young and old um for our football game um November 1st uh at 7M it's our homecoming game and we actually have merch that just dropped for yeah not not only for the student section but for the whole the whole stand we want everyone in white uh spreading the word it's at dap press.com so go check it out yeah go Rams thank you so much we move on to informational items we have several important dates coming up Wednesday October 23rd 2024 uh another regular meeting 7 pm here at the library um Wednesday November 13 2024 is our reorganizational meeting 11:00 a. in council chambers um Thursday November 14 2024 is our Workshop um at 5:00 pm here at the library nove uh Thursday November
08814th um Regular meeting 7 PM so right after our Workshop so it will be a a pretty long afternoon and evening for us um Wednesday November 20th 2024 is another regular meeting 7 P.M right here in the library uh Final Call for questions and or comments from the committee seeing none um I uh actually um want to um make a motion to move us into executive session for the purpose of discussion on the teacher and educational technician labor contracts Pur St 21m RSA 4056 second roll call please chair sius yes member Briden yeah member Luciano yes member oir yes yes for alls thank you we have a separate link did you guess that or no I didn't but it when was it sent if it was sent before this meeting then I didn't get it
089my