001If I can't speak because I won't be able to necessarily speak, I'll just give a thumbs up. >> We can hear you. Okay. Yeah, I got I got you. >> I I I I'm in an environment I may not be able to speak. >> No, that's fine. I got you. I heard you. Is it right? All right. Good afternoon. I am calling the Pelum Elementary School Committee to order. It is now 5:35 a.m. and I am going to do roll call because we have two virtual participants. So, Jenny here, Margaret >> here, Sarah, >> William thumbs up >> here, >> Rachel >> here. Uh >> I didn't hear you. Okay. >> Yes. Here. >> All right. First order of business is reorganization. Um for those of you who are joining, the superintendent has the honor
002of starting off the reorg and voting for opening the voting for chair. Once the new chair takes over, then the chair will continue with the recipient over the school committee. Um the first speak up is chair. Are there any nominations you feel free to nominate yourself which is nominate a person and then we'll see if there is a second. >> I would nominate Sarah Bess. >> I will nominate myself. >> Do we need to make a second or >> second? Yes. I I I said I don't know if you heard I said um Sarah Beth I don't know if you want to >> No, I did. I heard. >> Okay. And then I would also nominate um um Rachel. >> Okay. So Sarah Best um William with a second. Margaret I will second. >> Okay.
003Jenny second. And Rachel for William. Is there a second? Wait, who? What? What exactly? >> Mark >> and then is there for that? >> Seconded. >> Okay, Margaret. All right, next. So, Sarah, do you accept the nomination? >> Yes. >> Margaret, do you accept the nomination? >> Yes. >> Rachel, do you accept the nomination? >> Sure. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Um I'm going to allow each person time to talk about why they would be a better chair and then I'll go around for vote by person. So we'll start with service. Um I think I would be a good chair. I've been chair of the region for several years now. Three years now. Um so I bring a lot of experience with opening law and um my kids went through from day um so
004I have you know deep connection to the school um and I think has a year of tough decisions that were going to require um strong organizational skills and I have Thank you. >> Um, I believe that I have a lot of experience here in Talum. I've been on the film committee for eight years. We'll be going into my ninth year. I have good connections with people throughout the community. And this coming year is a time when we're going to need that because of the things that are happening with Pelum in the community and the school. Um, >> thank you. Rachel, >> are you able to hear me? It seemed like you weren't. >> Yeah. >> Um, I would be happy to step in as chair or vice chair. Um, my background is really in finances
005and facilitation and managing a team and my understanding of the chair's role is primarily those three areas. Um, I also think there is a lot of value in having a direct connection to the elementary school, which I have currently and will have for the next 12 years. Um, and I think those are all big pieces of of both being able to do the work and being able to have um buy in and trust from the community. >> Thank you. All right. So we will we will vote and I guess I will call each person and then I would have to call each person to see who I don't know the best way to say who you vote for and also the easiest one. >> I think the name of the person >> and then let
006everyone vote. >> No, like Jenny, who do you vote for? >> Thank you. That's how I was. All right. Okay. So, I will start um virtually if I want to make sure I give him the time to speak. Um and so you got the thumbs up. William, who do you vote for? >> Best. >> All right. Um Rachel, who you vote for? >> I vote for myself. >> Okay. You said yourself, right? Cuz it's frozen. Okay. Jenny, who do you vote for? Margaret. Margaret, what do you forg Okay. All right. So, now we're going to go back and vote and narrow this down. We're between Sarah and Margaret cuz they both have two votes and so second round of votes. Um, William, who do you vote for? Service or Margaret? Sorry, I couldn't unmute. Um,
007I vote for Sarah Bess. >> Thank you, Rachel. >> I vote for Sarah. >> Thanks, Jenny. Margaret. Margaret, >> I will vote for myself. >> Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. Okay. Um, Sarah has three votes and so now I hand the vote over to you Sarah vote. >> Thank you. I will nomin for vice chair. >> Nominate Rachel. >> Rachel, do you accept? >> Yes. And I'll second that because we need a second. Um, I don't want to do this. Okay. Are there any other nominations? Okay. Uh, Williams, how do you vote? >> Yes. >> Rachel, >> yes. >> Sarah, yes. Rachel, >> yes. Yeah. All right. Rachel, you are a race chatter. Um, and we need a secretary. Secretary also student and, um, the chair, the vice chair, and the secretary make up the pill portion
008of the union 26 committee. Um, >> I'd like to nominate William for that. Okay. Uh, William, do you accept the nomination? That is a thumbs up. Say yes. Um, I will second that from William. Uh, any other? >> No. >> Okay. Uh, William, how do you vote? >> Yes. >> Rachel, >> yes. >> Jenny, >> yes. >> And Margaret, >> yes. Excellent. What do you Oh, and Sarah reps. Yes. What? Okay. And now we the other are um we need two regional reps and a joint policy subcommittee >> and CPAC. >> Does Palm have a CPAC? I don't think Palm has a CPAC. >> I've been the CPAC rep for the last year and William was before me. Yes, propellant. >> At some point we need to fix that because the pel district doesn't have
009a seat. So >> yeah. Okay. So Okay. Um, so one CPAC and one PTO that all of them >> and joint did you say um joint policy? >> Yes, it is. Okay, so thank you. >> Um, all right. So, uh, for regional representatives, I will nominate Jenny. >> Sorry. Um, I will I would like to continue on as a regional um rep. I've been there for a while. the kids are still there. Um, and I have been um working with the APA to wrap up their latest negotiations which includes the stands which we are still working at. Um, are there any >> are you remaining chair of the regional committee? >> I am until the next meeting and then we will reorganize. >> Okay. >> I nominate myself also as that I would like to
010continue the work that I'm doing on the region. Okay. Anything further? Any other >> Do you need seconds or no? >> Um, Margaret Phil. Um, yes, I need a second, please. >> I'll second for Sarah Bess >> and I'll second for William. >> Okay. Um, >> and I guess I'll second for me. >> I don't know if that's a thing. >> Yes, it is. You can. Your vote is just as good as everybody else's when you are voting for yourself. Um, okay. Jenny, do you would you like to speak to uh being the regional representative? >> I would. Um, I had two kids at the high school and that is actually was my primary motivation for joining the school committee was to be able to represent the region. I think I'm the only person on
011this school committee and maybe all three school committees who actually has a background in education. I feel like I bring a unique voice to the conversation um because I'm the person who speaks up on behalf of education when everybody else seems to be speaking about finance. Um so I think uh that is a a responsibility that I would like to take on and I feel it's important to be held by somebody who is a Pelum resident full-time um >> William. >> So I am also an educator. I taught kindergarten for several years and I have a degree in education. Um so there are multiple ones of us in the room that actually have a background in education. Uh I think that I have done a lot of work um in the schools that have been
012very positive and I I'm in a difficult place. >> I'm in a difficult place today. So I can't really say much more than that. But I I think my track record speaks um and and really trying to as Dr. always knows I'm always pushing the bullying, but I I try to do my best that I can with being respectful in our disagreements. And I think I push the administration to continue to grow and continue to do the work, but I do it in a respectful manner or at least try to um um Okay. So, I think it's probably going to be easiest to do the same thing we did the first time with the chair, your first pick, and then we'll do our round tubes. Um, uh, Rachel, >> do do Sorry, I didn't fully
013understand. Do you want me to name my two votes or just one at a time? >> Um, I think we'll do one and then the other. I think that will be less confusing. >> Sure. >> Okay. So, we'll do two two dots. >> My votes are for Sarah Bess and William. Seth, I don't know if you know we're hearing you in the screen, but my votes are for Sarah Bess and William. >> Denny, my votes are for Sarah Bess and myself. Margaret, I will vote for Jenny and Sarah Bus. I will start my name for your initial said Jenny and um I will vote for myself and for William. I will vote for myself and for Sarah Best. Okay. Um, so our two regional reps are myself and William. We need a joint policy subcommittee.
014And >> can I do a point of order really quickly? I really apologize. I'm at a um funeral uh for my husband's father, so I'm going to step off. U but thank you for all the support. take care of yourself and your family. Um, okay. Join policy policy sub committee. Um, okay. We need a representative. Any takers? >> I'm interested in joining the joint policy subcommittee. Anyone else interested? No. Okay. I mean, I assume we know any William or >> are there two one? >> Oh, because he does it for the region. >> well, they'll have to reorganize also. >> Okay. So, Helen just has to worry about who their phone person is. >> Gotcha. So, um, any other takers? Rachel, do you accept? >> I do. >> You're the winner. >> Okay. Uh, CPAC,
015which sounds like it needs a little sorting out, but if that's what we had before, we can I don't Is there a list of >> how are you subcommittee somewhere? >> No, we don't have any subcommittees. We have somebody on the this year for the first time on regional subcommittee. It's the first time we've ever had one. And as far as I know, we've never CPAC. I know Rachel said she's been representing us at CPAC, but >> I I took over from William. Well, William had been doing it for he told me for the two years before. >> I don't remember us ever voting to do that. I don't All right. I Here is what I would like to like to fold on the CPAC until we have a little more information on it. Um,
016if Pelum I don't remember Pelum having a CPAC because they're supposed to be by district. >> Okay, so we need a little more info. >> It's really common for CPACs to be joint district across the state. Um, and and the our I mean it's we don't need to do this tonight. I'll be at CPAC meetings regardless, but our CPAC calls itself the Pelum Ammerst and regional CPAC. >> Okay. Well, let's find a little more information. Maybe there's some paperwork somewhere or something that we can figure out and then we'll bring the CPAP wrap back for the next time. Um, okay. And then, uh, PTO do. Excellent. Anyone else feelings? Margaret, you're the winner. Okay. Okay. Comment. I assume we didn't receive any >> superintendent update. >> Um, all right. So, thank you to Colleen and
017she's here to to back me up. I know that the request was for a quarterly update. However, when we looked at it, we had just provided an update in um early May, end of April. And so, what we decided to attach was a year-toate update cuz the school year is about to end. Um I believe overall throughout the entire year, we've had about nine reports filed. Um, se four were investigated unfounded, three were confirmed bullying or harassment. Um, and then there are two that actually were um duplicates and so we have seven missing incidents. I'm doing you proud so far, Colleen. All right, good. >> Yes. Yes, Dr. Z. Thank you. >> Um, she went through and and kind of listed out. No, it's to do this type of report is much easier for Pelum
018because it's a much smaller school district. Um, so it would not look the same if we were to do it at the region or to do it at Commerce, but this helps us to kind of narrow down to specific classrooms or specific individuals in a presentation of this. Um, what we do see as a district is like we see uh repeat in first grade. Um, and so I believe that there's some behaviors that have kind of bubbled up. And in speaking with Mickey and Den and specifically supporting Miki, um, I kind of know kind of what's been happening. And what is very what I want to kind of narrow in on the responses and the ability for us to kind of direct and see that there's a holistic response here in Palum outside of just
019like safety plans um, which is outlined. There's also a level of and it's not listed for all but the counseling is cleared in terms of the counseling team, school adjustment counselor and again this council working together to support students and support families. Um all cases were closed in Pelum. All of them thoroughly investigated. All of them have staff assigned. We can actually think that we could use Pelum as like a model for like here are the steps to follow through that we need to to get things done. Um, we also know that and I don't know, Colleen, I want to hand it over to you to see if there's anything you want to add in terms of the Pelum overview. >> Yeah. No, just to echo everything that you said, Dr. Z, um, Pelum is
020is really a model school, you know, on a smaller scale than some of the other schools. Um it's it's really almost like a little pilot site for what BRIM usage should look like, which is great because in that smaller population, we you know, we don't we can see all of the incidents. we can see exactly what happened and we can see what happens when staff are utilizing the system as it was intended and when it can be implemented you know um sort of when everybody works together because they're they're all you know in it every day they know all the students a report comes in they're like oh that's you know Joemo and he's you know in third grade and he this is what's happening with him and everybody is sort of like embedded in
021the culture there and it's it's really um I'm not saying their jobs are simple by any means and Mickey you can feel free to um speak speak up any any time to to shut me up but um but you know they're they reach out for support from the districts from Dr. Z or from my office or from Marta whenever they need it um to ask for consultation or for help and it's sort of just everything's working as it's intended to. So on a broader scale with the with other schools um you know to extrapolate that or to to scale up uh and out that practice um I think it just gives us a good idea that it can work uh on a broader scale. So it gives a little bit of hope um to our
022office that um hopefully we can um apply some of their practices upward and outward a little bit more. But um they're doing a great job and you know uh we can still identify that in the those bullying incidents that um did occur all the follow through happened um you know Abby and Mickey working together with the other counselors like you know the students are getting um the level of followthrough and followup that the community was so badly asking for um for the entire region. So great job guys. >> And when I say the whole process, I think Pelum was also the one out of the two the two appeals I had this year. Pelum was one of the two opinions. So when I say they walked through the whole process, Pelum has gone through the
023whole process including an appeal to the superintendent. And just being very clear, the package that was received from the school had witness statements, show the process of what occurred. I was able to speak to the parent and create a whole picture. So >> yeah, Mar this is a very nice report format. Is this something that comes out of the system or >> No, this is come this comes out of Colleen >> whatever Colleen put together. This is this is how this is not how the school um the formatting comes in. It's actually jumbled and she did a really good job >> put it it makes it very easy to follow and to understand. It's very nice. She's awesome. Thank you. >> Great. Um, thank you. Yeah, and the report looks fantastic. It's really easy to
024follow. And thank you really to the adults on the ground that made this system come together and work so well. Um, okay. Thank you, Colleen. Update on stay of the district summit. >> Um, thank you to everyone who was able to attend the summit. I attached the um PowerPoint to the board docs. It's also on our um website ars.org arps.org back/sotd. Um you'll see the video clips of the different sections as well as the poll powerpoint um and even a FAQ form for us to collect questions. So we start to create that FAQ account. Um the purpose of the summit was to start delving into the data conversations around what's happening in all three of our districts and what are we seeing. Um and we came from a high level in terms of you know
025the academic conversation was hey compared to this to the state we are outpacing everyone talks about us compared to the state but when we really delve into our actual numbers we're not doing so well with our subgroups and there's some deeper instructional work that needs to happen. there's some standardization um around how we need to address certain things and that's kind of hard because everyone feels like the conversation around curriculum or around instruction is one where there should be a lot of fluency and flexibility which in terms of using things as a resource yes but we're also seeing that there's something that we are missing when it comes to that flexibility and fluidity when it comes to our subgroups so our English learners ers, our students with with needs, our black and brown students, um
026students of color, they are all our subgroups, um and there's more high needs, um low income that we are not serving well. And that's across all three districts. And so um it was a really great summit. Everyone came and participated. And I think that one of the key things was for individuals to be able to talk about um what they would be able to do when they come back to their committees to their communities and their commitments to to the district. >> Great. Thank you. Any questions or followups? >> I have a comment. Um, so I was struck when I was looking at slide 53, which shows that Helum's academic trends have actually been trending downward over many years in math and and also in ELA. And I feel like this is the first time
027that I've seen this data presented in this way. We've seen data from Pelum in a lot of different presentations and it doesn't tell this story. And so I this is actually a very important story I think and it is in many ways the most important story um for us to be talking about as we think about like how to support the school going forward. And so I am raising it just because it feels like it's something it doesn't make a lot of sense to spend time talking about, you know, this year's MCAST versus next year's MCAST, this year's I Ready versus last year's I whatever. like we're we're look and I I feel like I've been asking for this like year over like time over >> I've been asking for this slide since I joined
028the committee. Um this is a conversation piece. I feel like this is the conversation that we should be having as a committee about because I think we've heard there's so much about Pelum that is wonderful and that is to be celebrated and this is problematic. Um this is this is not the data that we want to see for our kids um over time. And so I I guess I'm just raising it as it feels like an important conversation um for us to have, not uh you know I I think we're putting a lot of attention on the future of the school. And I think we need to talk about like the present of the school and how do we better support the school? how do we better sort of organize the school so that we
029see this data moving in the opposite direction. So I agree that was the purpose of the summit to kind of bridge that gap into the conversation. Um I think at my evaluation we asked me how can I talk a lot about construction and that was my time on stage to kind of really delve into the data and what we're seeing. Um this came out of us having the data chats that I have with the prince. I started it last year with the principles and this year I added the departments. So um uh S SSO special education came in they presented their data English learners came in we did yelling we did mathematics um we had a lot of departments I can't remember all of them and so and then I just had the second loop
030and circling of schools right so the schools did their second um data test and what came from the ground level view was one thing because we had a conversation at the beginning of the year when we talk about the trends of our English learners across the different schools. But then when we were able to bring it in by department, that's when I was like, wait a minute, we need to have a deeper and broader conversation because all of these groups, right? All of these stakeholder groups are talking about supporting schools, supporting schools, whether it's the school committees, whether it's CPAC, whether it's EMPAC, like everyone has their focus. Um, we have I had just Roger Wallace Foundation there. Everyone's like, "Oh, we support the schools." But we're s seeing where we're ending up very similarly,
031either in the same space or lower than where we were within a 9-year gap. And so, one of the things on this page is that the metrics changed at at one point in terms of what they were measuring, but also you see where we clearly identified the pandmic disruption, but we haven't really closed that gap since there. So something in 2018 were upwards and upward trend and then the pandemic hit we but we haven't regained that and I think that there's some things that when we talk about you know what we've been doing what Mik has been doing and how I pulled it together in terms of the program review conversation there's some things in the present that's being done um I think that there is that conversation about the future of the school and
032all of those things but in terms of the instructionally really looking at where our gaps are is a deeper conversation that we really need to have. Um, and it's hard because when we present the information, we try our best not to have identifiers, but it's even harder because if we don't present that information by class, digging down into who it is that not even teachers, we could say teacher A, teacher B, but if we don't dig deeper and as a school community, you really aren't able to make those decisions. So, if we can continue with academic trend data, that actually will help because this is a eye opener. It was eye opener for me when we delved into it as a district school and I wanted it to be a eye opener to the community
033truly. I appreciate that. Anything further on this? >> Yeah. I don't know if you can see. Yeah. Um I Mickey I'm wondering if you can help with this but my hunch based on numbers I understand in the school I um I understand what Jenny's pointing to and because numbers are so low when we're seeing this like 57 to even 49%. I I think we're talking about like three students. Is that about right? So if sorry I just want to make sure I'm on the right page too. Oh I just lost it too. >> 53. >> Yeah. Um I don't know if this is this whole school Dr. Z or just >> this is everyone from from who takes MCAST? >> Everyone who takes MCCAST. Yeah. >> So it's not just one grade. >> No we
034don't want to do that. to full school. >> Um, >> class is is remind me third through >> fourth through sixth, right? Or third through sixth. >> It's third through sixth. >> Rachel, can you ask your question again? >> I'm just wondering like say a 5% drop about how many students is that? >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah. Not not many. Um, so I would have to do some math. I don't sure in my head. >> Um, but I also when I'm looking at that graph, I see that the state also goes down. I don't love that we're going down, but I do want to just caution people when looking at MCCAST's results that it depends on what the questions are. And sometimes the questions are like um you know some of them are ridiculous um
035and I think hard to understand. So if they put in some questions, let's say on I I would really love to see like by question compared to the state how we did if that makes sense. And I have often done that. Um but I'm not prepared for like that today. Um, but I just want to like caution against relying too much on just MCCAST. >> So I don't think the conversation is just MCCAST. I we don't have academic trend data like for example for I ready because you know that we're in and that's our diagnostic but for example in reading this is our first year using it in reading and I think we've used it multiple years in math. Correct. So for me what what this and to be clear this is meet meeting or
036exceeding this is not for students who are below that. This is for students who are meeting or exceeding expectations which even includes the sixth graders from that year or the year before. So those five students could have been sixth graders um and could have moved forward to to middle school. What what is telling in this conversation is that if you notice in 2017 in ELA we're at 56% in 2024 we're we're at 57%. And I'm sure there's population conversations like there's a lot of stories that can be told when we look at data. It's not about trying to justify whether it was four or five or six students. It's about what's happening with the students that's in front of us and what what do we need to do to implement instruction to shift them. Because
037if 49% are meeting or exceeding that means that how many 51% are not right. So that's what what we need to look at is that 51% have not met or exceed have not met the standards. And so that's the conversation around even if it's 10 students, how do we differentiate to pull them in a small group? What does that look like? um what are the cost? So so it's it's it's to drive the conversation not and what does that story is and so I started off the summit by saying a lot of times we use data to justify what we want it to versus looking at the data to tell the story of what it truly is. And so that's that's what it is. >> And I will say I mean I don't love standardized
038tests. I would never judge a school based on one test. But regardless of how many kids it is, these trends are not moving in the direction that we want to see them moving. And I am quite confident in saying that when we saw those significant increases from 2017 to 2019, nobody was saying, "Oh, but that's only three kids." People were celebrating it because that was a significant gain. So I think it is an important trend to not sort of to not use the numbers to tell the story we want to tell but to really dig into the numbers and understand what some kids are thriving here. There's no question. And obviously there are a lot of kids 49% of our kids 51% of our kids are not at or above standards. Like that's an important
039thing for us to recognize and talk about. >> I'm really sorry >> senior awards night. So any of you in capable hands? >> So Sarah Best, I I'll take over facilitating from here. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> You're vice chair, right? >> Yeah. I don't know who's taking notes. I just right now realized because William's not here. Uh I do my best. >> I can start from here. Um but I just realized that maybe >> Good luck. Thank you. >> Congrats to your senior Sarah. Um I >> um I just wanted to I'm doing some learning myself and I imagine Mickey would have plenty to offer to teach us in this area or Tanya or or Dr. But I'm just learning some outside of this space about looking at data for small schools being it
040it just is different and interpreting the data has to be done differently. I didn't have like a conclusion there. I just kind of wanted to point to that as a factor as like we're looking at this across from Ammerst and the region and that I think there's different uh takeaways. I don't quite know what they are but I think that's something that will be helpful for us to learn as a committee. And that's one of the reasons we have that note on the bottom under it. It says, "No, Pelum Elementary School represents a small student cohort. Minor ships and individuals performance can cause significant year-over-year percentage um validity." So like making sure we always have that note when we presentable because we understand that one student can make a drastic difference when it comes down
041to 20, but we al and then we balance that with what is it saying for us. So, right, that's where we have that deeper dive into the conversation. >> Yeah, thank you. Okay. Um, Jenny, can I actually take you up on taking notes? Cuz part of why I'm there is because I'm >> taking pain meds, so I should not try to take notes and facilitate. Um, okay. Was there anything else, Dr. that you wanted to make sure to highlight from this state of the districts. >> No. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I think. >> Yeah. Mickey principal update is next. >> Yeah. So, I don't feel well, so I'm going to be quick. Um I in looking at the agenda saw that there was the bullying and also um a a data chat. So, I
042thought I'd just like highlight all the events that we're doing. Um, and in talking with Dr. Z, that's what we decided. Um, so we're doing a lot of endofear events. We went to Grath Park last Friday. It was a lot of fun. Very successful. Um, we Sorry. Um, we also had a 4W week, we're we're still in the middle of it, um, pause challenge where kids are each week focusing on part of our pause, like practicing kindness, accepting responsibility, working together, and they're the individual classes are earning like extra recess time or things like that. no little chachkis. Um, we got rid of those. Um, just to help with behavior because as most people transition into summer, um, most kids feel um, you know, a little bit of anxiety and that can come out as
043behavior when they're, you know, not look like they don't know how to feel about moving on to the next grade and or leaving their friends for the summer or what their summer looks like. So, we do see an increase in behaviors and the four weeks of the pause challenge have proven to be a good um a good thing to implement. We also have had some um spirit Fridays which have been fun. Um we have field day this Friday and activity day which is uh teachers have created activities and kids get to choose like I think it's three activities to go to so they rotate and um like the sixth grade teacher will do uh water rockets outside. Um, you can choose to do yoga with a certain teacher or I I did Zumba one year.
044That was crazy because doing Zumba for almost two hours was a long time. Um, but the kids rotate and they get to choose and that's really fun. Um, and we also do what's called a step up. um where kids will go to their next year teacher for the a like for 20 minutes or so and um the next year teacher will give them a little bit of a highlight of what's to come and get to ask questions and see the classroom which is always a good um like a little moment in time for them to think about over the summer. Um and just to give a little bit of um a shout out to the staff and the students, our our pursuit of productive struggle um is really proving to be um productive. Ah I
045didn't mean to do that but um the teachers are emailing me, texting me, coming to my office saying have you looked at so and so's data? Have you looked at their math data? Have you looked at their reading data? Kids are making um huge jumps and gains in their data and the students um the staff are sharing it with the students and the students are feeling really great and proud of that. Um so our intentions are proving to be um what's the word? Profitable. not profitable, productive, I don't know. Um, so it's really it's giving um all of us a lot of hope that what we're doing is working because as a former special ed teacher, it is for some kids, it's really hard to move that needle. And this was our hope to move
046the needle for some of our kids. and it is proving to be working. So, that's exciting. >> Thank you, Mickey. You left out one of the fun days that I just have to say cuz I got to see it. But the fifth grade earned like worked their butts off and earned a survivor day. Um, which is the first time that this fifth grade teacher has ever done it. But it was not just fun, it was like amazing to watch how the kids supported each other through really hard challenges that a bunch of ridiculous dads put together that like kids were struggling and they did not none of that those kids let each other fail. Um yeah, it was pretty outstanding to see. So that up. Yeah, that was awesome. It was really awesome. They had
047to do a baby puzzle with a blindfold on >> and someone had to tell them how to do it. So that was really, really fun to watch. And the sixth grade's going to Camp Massasoya tomorrow, which is like ropes courses and working together and they usually have a really good time. So that's good. Um, okay. Amazing. Student handbook. I know this was with the note at the top that it's still being updated. Dr. Z or Mickey, did I have a couple questions, but did either of you want to highlight anything in here for us? >> No. >> Um, really my only question and request in your uh updates is to please make sure that the cameras get added in there. I just noticed they're not. Um, and I imagine that's on your list, but I
048don't want to let that get lost because that needs to get in there. >> Is there anything else that's already changed that folks should know about? >> Usually handbook review starts around this time. There's a lot that the schools are trying to get done and so um we also have uh June 22nd we're going to be doing a lot of policy review policies that are coming forth from the policy subcommittee. So there's some things that might have to change in the handbooks al together like our volunteer procedures and quy checks and different things like that. So um >> so you'll you'll save it to do all at once >> right. So, um, it's very hard to hand in the handbook now, but we wanted to make sure that it was sent forward so that everyone
049can can review it. And if there's something else that needs to come forward, I just actually said through the chair if there's other comments or different things. >> Sure. And, um, I also I don't know if this is for us to know or not. Um, I'm curious if the temporary kindergarten teacher is staying. I know her name is still in there. Is that something to share in this space or not? Not right now. >> No. >> Okay. >> That's a personal matter. >> That's fine. That's fine. Um, okay. Mickey, is there anything on the handbook you wanted to point out for us? Thank you. Okay. The school futures update. I will go through. Um, Seth, are you able to put this on the screen for folks? Um, not easily. Give me a second. >> Wait,
050I maybe I can. >> Oh, if you could share your screen, that would be a lot easier. >> Yeah, that works. >> Perfect. >> Great. Okay. Um, okay. I'm not going to read to everybody, but I want to just go through kind of high high level. Um there's a lot of conversation about this being a big year for Pelum and it is it is a big year for Pelum and also what we are finding as we look at um the finances and kind of where we are is this has been an ongoing trend for quite a long time there. We're we're not at so much of a tipping point. We still have a decent amount of money in the revolving choice fund even as we dip in more than in the past. Um some of
051the big things I want to highlight are here which is um the committee and the finance committee and other folks were given a quote or an overview of about $6 million of expenses that would need to be spent in five years. in digging in and I'm still doing some digging, but in digging in on that with Shannon and with MSBA, um it looks like we'd be spending as a town 2 and a half to $3 million over 10 years, which is a very different scenario. Um and will significantly change the outlook for us. Um so I wanted to just point that out. Um the other things that in terms of trends and understanding is that this this year's kindergarten and first grade have significantly low enrollment, but they are an anomaly among the school and
052there have been other years over the last 25 years that had dips in enrollment. It's not clear yet if that's going to become a trend um or not and is something that we're looking at as we do a fuller analysis. Um, this is a long list, but we are exploring 12 different options. And I gave a a overview of where we are on some of them. The big things I want to point out for folks is that becoming a K through five school looks like it would be a costly endeavor and not save money. Regionalizing with Ammerst is complicated because of their new school and and the associated debt. Um regionalizing with smaller schools, when I wrote this, we didn't have enough data. We we still don't quite have enough data, but is complicated because
053smaller schools are also small. And while we have a small um Palum resident population, it still would be a significant increase for a nearby school. Um, we're looking at what closing would mean in terms of town in terms of the impact on town and home values and all the rest because it it does have an impact on those things. I'm in conversation with um Dr. Z's wonderful colleague Shannon Cleveland White Cleveland um and union 28 about how their union works and other models for small schools. We are talking some about taking a more strategic approach to choice students rather than defaulting to having all seven grades open in the school. Um, which is related to the mixed grade model. Increasing revenue sources seems like a limited limited income generator but not nothing. Um, >> sorry,
054what was that last one? >> Um, increasing revenue sources. I'm sorry I'm talking so fast. Um and we are looking at the concept of an innovation school which is um in other states I'm more familiar with that being called a magnet school but uh becoming a like specialized school that doesn't increase money but may increase the um like novelty of the school. So it might increase numbers. Um, and we just last week decided that we're going to start looking into exploring a K38 model. There's a lot to do, but we're in a really good place. Um, the whole committee is working hard and having lots of conversations with folks in town, nearby towns, many conversations with Channon, which I'm appreciative of Dr. Z and team. Um, and this is kind of the pulse update. In
055September, we will have a report and we are anticipating in August, September putting out a survey and holding a forum. We will share those dates with the school committee as soon as we have it. Dr. Z, is there anything you want to add because you're on there too. >> I think it's really great. They have some forms coming up and person meetings and I got to engage with three wonderful people that I never got to engage with directly before. car Sarah and an so it's really great that you can engage at that level and explain a lot about the schools and an was there at the forum so >> um >> yeah and I think just I I was at um Grath Park day and there's a lot of interest from teachers and parents to
056share what their vision for the future is so I'm looking forward to being able to gather more of that as we go. >> Sorry. You said you're going to send out a survey in August, September, full report in December. >> There's going to be a midpoint. It's we're calling Well, the select board is calling it a midpoint report in September, and then another one in December. There will be a report in September, and then a final report in December. >> Okay. >> It will be a tight turnaround there. >> The September report will will not reflect the survey and forums. I'm anticipating but the December report will Okay. Committee. Uh are there other comm we the next thing on the agenda is committee updates. Are there any other things folks want to share? >> Think
057so. No, I don't have anything. >> The PTO president had her baby. Um, I'm gonna put together an e-card. That That is my only committee update. But FYI, Britney had her baby. Um, I am wondering if we should coordinate the retreat when and what when all five of us are able to engage with that. >> The school committee goals. >> Oh, thank you. School committee goals. Are there updates there? I didn't mean to. >> No. Um, so I've been communicating with Tracy Novik between the information you all sent and her schedule. She's given us five days in August that she could um work with us for our retreat and yeah, whatever you want to do to figure out which of those states. I had had some conversation with her around what it might be and
058my thought was that but again this will be something for the committee I guess the committee to decide at some point as a group um to talk about our role as a as as a committee. Um, there have sometimes been some tensions, maybe not necessarily with us, but in the district of between school committee and superintendent and that Tracy might be working with districts and also to help us and maybe at that point we could go through the goals we did for this year, see what we what worked, what didn't, and talk about goals. goals for next year. So, that's my update on that. >> Okay, great. >> And I don't Do you uh I don't know if Sarah Best wants to take over the communication or how you want to deal with that? >>
059Could you Yeah. Could you forward that chain to Sarah and me? I'll just update Sarah. I'll connect with Sarah and just update her. Um, and then I'll and then she she can decide how she wants it wants to proceed with >> goals and dates. Yeah, >> I would be glad to do that. >> Thank you. Um, and I it sounds like you have a few dates in that list in that email chain from Tracy. >> Yes, these are the dates she gave me based on our availability. >> Great. Okay. Um, is there anything Jenny or me that we want to add to retreat content that might be helpful also for Sarah? I don't know. I've never been to a retreat. I don't know what's like the norm for these retreats, but I do think um
060I personally would like to understand more about I mean maybe it's redundant with like the school future stuff like Sarah Beth seemed super excited when the idea of becoming an of magnet school came up and I was like I don't even know what that means. So I guess like it would be good to hear from someone on mask whatever like about sort of I would be interested in their take on some of the scenarios that the school futures committee is looking at particularly around becoming an independent school. I'm curious when you talk about becoming more strategic about choice students like if they have any insights that they could offer around that. Like I think it would just be helpful to have their perspective on some of the more likely scenarios. Like it sounds like some
061of the work that you've done to date, there's already things that you're sort of saying like probably not going to get us where we want to be. But the ones that still feel like they are like real possibilities on the list to have their input on that I think would be really valuable. Cool. It's it's it's becoming my experience that Desi is a little more helpful in this space than MASC. Um just like Tracy and company don't really know a lot about this because it's not governance related. But there are a couple of Desi contacts and maybe we could explore bringing them in. Um either for the retreat or for I wonder if holding a combined meeting with the school futures and the school committee as we kind of narrow down from this list of
06212 to a shorter list to dive deeper into those options maybe and the finance committee. I don't know. Um, but there's I have a meeting tomorrow with a couple of the Desi reps that are able to explain more about um how superintendency unions work and what changing superintendency unions means for a district, what becoming independent of a larger all the things that you just explained. Um, it seem Yeah. So maybe bringing in Desi there would be a good move for everybody to have a fuller scope of what we're talking about. I mean, the reason that I thought it might be valuable to have Tracy speak to it is just that she clearly has a very solid handle on the finances. Um, I mean, she did the 70 on 70 presentation to us. So, I think
063having her perspective on like any significant financial implications that we should understand um could be helped, but I I think having Desi as well is great. Yeah, she doesn't have amazing context for for um or I I have found she just hasn't had had she's referred me out for some of the questions for things like innovation schools um cuz it's outside of her knowledge base. Um but I think combining the two expertise areas will be helpful. Um, I don't know if that's for a retreat this summer or if it's going to make more sense for that to be in the fall because well, maybe that's this is a question for you both. Um my instinct is to be sharing that level of detail once the futures committee has narrowed down our list to about five
064voices rather than giving you all uh like kind of endless data and analysis on all 12 options. Does that make sense to you or does having a full picture of everything feel important? Well, if you're going to narrow >> Yeah, sorry, Margaret. Going to narrow things down, it seems like it might be better and if if there are things that you're pretty sure are going to get pushed aside that we really wouldn't need input on those. And I wonder, you know, I mean, there are always lots of meetings, but there is the opportunity to have a special meeting that wouldn't be or or even maybe the September meeting because that typically doesn't have a lot of things happening. The October meeting typically has been the one with more stuff going on. So just >> to
065to maybe save for September. I I'll talk to Sarah a little bit about this, but to maybe plan for in September to talk through that timing could probably work nicely because we'll have a report in September. So at that point being able to kind of just zoom through why we're eliminating some of the choices and then dive deeper into the options. >> Well, I will share with Sarah Bess. I tried to put together a tenative agenda for the for the year. >> Okay. >> Um with the things that we have to do and kind of when we've done them. So I'll share that with her. >> Great. >> Okay. Thank you both. >> Um okay. Are there any items not reasonably anticipated? I do not think so. All right. Warrant report. I would like to
066a motion to approve the >> Consent agenda. Thank you. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Um, let's do a roll call. Uh, Margaret, >> yes. >> Jenny, >> yes. Rachel. Yes. >> And Sarah said at some point she will have the minutes together because we're seeing some. >> Yep. Um and I think future agenda planning at this moment is going to all be in process with that transition as you'll share documents. Um okay. I'm going to move to ajourn then. Second. All right. Jenny, >> yes. >> Margaret, >> yes. >> Rachel, yes. Okay, we are adjourned at 6:40. Thank you all. Have a good night.