001school committee on Tuesday March 4 at 5:4 p.m. um we have no public comment so we will go on to approving the minutes what oh I'm sorry no public comment do we have anybody here who's going to make public comment okay you're more than welcome to me I'm sorry I'm just so used to not not it um okay so we will go on to minutes we are there any corrections or additions I do have a request could you write out the name for brim the acronym just in there because I always I can never remember I mean I know buling no reporting buling reporting you want to email it to me and then I'll I I forget the brim is bullying too though like to me I don't bullying but I don't know what comes
002after that so I just think it would be good to have it yet written out um okay there's nothing else um move to approve the minutes of February 4th I second all those in favor is that you that okay um the warrant reports we have three of them they're here for anybody who would like to see them and I've also today and for this meeting I've also uploaded all of these documents to the my town government website I haven't done that in the past but there is a place to do that um we have no gifts um chairs update the only thing I have is that um I went to the PJ meeting and last week and they finished the readathon and had an incredible success and I think raised either four or $5,000 yes
003and it sucessful time um and that was with very little funding effort [Music] family be their next um event that they're working on um chair's updates do either of you have any announcements to make lot of anoun [Music] are you getting to ready to say something yeah sorry okay I'm just checking we had another um negotiation session um and the team reached consensus on several more areas of language including clarifying the work day and work week and finalized language on work related injuries uh we have two sessions next week March 5th and six and we'll provide oh this week I wrote I did write that last week so this week tomorrow on Thursday um and we'll provide a single update afterwards okay great thank you all right um Nikki isn't here should be a few
004minutes pleas okay we'll come back we'll come back to Mickey's update um Dr Z I wanted to keep my update a little bit short because I knew that um there was some presentations this evening um so I know that I am working on the PM report and so that will be in on Friday um so I'm hoping to capture just a little bit from Micky I think I have some based on all my superintendent updates that I can share for from since I came in moving forward um and then I worked with my team today in just trying to track what we're looking at for next for this year so I'm not surprised next year that I have to do for um because I also got a request on I think Le or a copy
005of a report to Y um and I'll just clarify so the the town report that is ready at town meeting time is the one that we will get this may is for 2024 and there's a section in there about the school and the superintendent has written that so it's a little odd because we don't operate from January through December we operate on the school year so um anyway that's the report that she's talking about thank you no problem um and so um we really we really want to make sure that um capture a good picture I'm going to do the best that I can this year and then do a much better job next year um I think for me I also there was a 911 call from the campuses I think that's the what
006Mickey is dealing with um so in terms of the after school program um there was an email sent today and if I don't have a set meeting by the end of the week I will be passing the after school program um that was a straw to me that broke the Cel back um so I'm not quite sure what occurred as about that and what that looks like but I think it's time to intervene before things escalate further um and I look forward to the presentations this evening okay great thank you um so I have on here to discuss discuss and possibly vote on the proposed um operating and capital budgets tonight um so I would like to ask William and Sarah best if they have any discussion questions we did have pretty good discussion at
007our last meeting for the budget cing uh I I don't think anything changed correct you what I don't think anything changed no we have not received any feedback since the budget heing I and just to clarify it was a pair two pair okay I know I had some parents call concerns that just to clarify that just concerns about that they'd be losing two pairs in the school okay and how that would impact their children's education okay in class size all right well we did talk about that last at the budget hearing so I I know that we have anything new to discuss about that really I justess have one more question I know one time we had discussed about joining two classrooms into one yes is that part of this budget or not no I
008think there were some um I got to chose my words wisely um but that's not in this it's not in this okay I can be you let that be the answer yes so we retain the classroom teacher okay MH and and and opted to but I would assume that all I may get the wordings wrong so correct WR all the special ed assigned pairs are all still in full force and working I can't come from medic check okay but none of the cuts would be for kids that are mandated to have um if they are affected so the I'm the way how IEPs are written and how they're normally written not how they're written here um students who require one to one Services may not require one to one Services all day they may require
009one to one Services during specific time um so we're discussing the poers and students with IEPs would still be able with the reductions to receive their required Services um I would have to make sure that they do and if they don't we would have to figure that out I it's a legal obligation to do that if we I imagine I guess this is um a question back to you if we had a student who came a new student and they requireed one to one I don't know how much funding we get when a student like do we get additional funding when a student I not enough to not I don't think enough to cover a full person salary that's that's the issue that we ended up running into yeah um um so it's not a
010model as IDE um but that's that's where that's one of the reasons we also have the power review that's going on at the central office to determine you know the IPS that we have now because really honestly and truly research Desi like Nationwide individuals are talking about the impact of one toone um in terms of student dependence and not creating an opportunity for that Independence that we should be like I think some I firmly believe that every child needs what should get what they need to be successful in life I also think that there's a misconception around the resources when it comes to special education and I think that we need to kind of do like a deeper dive into that um to make sure everyone is adequately getting what they truly need to be
011successful um not just with us but when they leave us and so um it's a hard question to answer with the cuts that we here okay I think both things can be true like the way I answered it last week I walked away feeling like I was putting a very positive spin on it because that's how that's usually what I do but it is going to be hard and we can do it and we will have to shift a lot of things um and I also uh agree with what you were saying about how our practices and I think that co co did have a little bit of something to do with it we are giving kids too much help in general and um so I think both things can be true and it's a
012balance and it it will be hard though to uh if we get more students who have more needs to run a school with less Paras well I suppose for example if you had a student come in who needed a one needed one onone you would need to come back to the committee and we would have to see whether there's anything we can do that we have to reappropriate funding on okay anything else do you feel like you've got answers from people do I feel like have absolutely the people who talked to you did not talk to us rest of us do I feel like I have answers for them now I guess I guess I would ask and I thought it was in here so it might be in here um like what are our
013current class sizes it's it's it's in here isn't it I was just trying to find that I don't see it I thought it was that's right it was if it's not there it wasenda it was in the agenda from last agenda not the hearing I guess I was going to ask what what are the what are our staff to teacher to kid ratios and what is the state mandate I should know that as a school Committee Member but I don't know that [Music] so I don't think the state doesn't really mandate the ratio that comes through the district and and what I've seen for example I believe it's ammer to the committee okay um that's one there is best practice when it talks about you know the size of a special education classro and and
014things like that but in some instances depending on your adult supports you know those things are put in place um the classroom ratios I do not know that off the top of my head so I'm going to leave that one to Mickey but I know you did ask about the consolidation of the K1 for the upcoming year and stuff like that so can you say like what the average class size is the average class size is about 20 okay some have 22 23 and some have one has pen and it's there's about two adults in each classroom at almost all time so it could be the special ed teacher in there it could be a par it could be the intervention teacher um so I guess the ratio would be one to 10 if I
015did my ma do you think the ratio what would what this budget going to impact on the ratio uh like is the class that only has 10 going to not have a parent and just a teacher is like is that or do we not know exactly where the Paras are getting cut from yeah I don't figure out the Paras schedule until the fall okay um I've done that in the past and had to redo it so um but I can take like guesses based on the classes right now it's it's dependent on student need more than uh how many are in the class um and so so some of those pairs that are currently in the classrooms are mandated are needed because of the students in the classroom well and also know that because of
016our Union contract there's seniority longevity so there's different things also that may come into play when it comes to who gets you know Rift first so can I tell my constituents that we will always be in compliance with the parents and the needs of our kids based on their iips with this current Bud i' wa to say yes I mean I don't want to be out of because I was assuming we could so that's why I mean that's why I started the conversation I didn't think the conversation would be well I don't know if we can say that does that make sense so I would I we would not be cutting for kids that need the services I think I would be coming here and saying we're out of compliance help yeah so if the
017kids if the current enrollment and the current children stay the same we can be in compliance and not have the two parents just would be hard it'll be tricky we we can be in compli okay I can take that message I'm done sorry well am I able to ask a question no well we don't typically it's typically a business meeting for the committee so I think I'm going to stick to that because we have kind of a long agenda tonight um okay then I guess I would take I would make a motion to pass to accept the proposed fiscal year 26 operating budget a second all right all those in favor hi okay if I abstain it doesn't pass um so after we all vote out to we all have to agree um so I
018am also going to make a motion to um accept the pum pis year 26 capital budget and is you second that okay and is there any discussion about that okay and um all those in favor great all right thank you um so I we have several people here with us tonight well we have one person who usually comes and another guest tonight Tommy McIntyre and gonna do a presentation about the reading ccul I'm here so welcome thank you um but good evening everybody McIntyre director curriculum equity and instruction of leadership and I'm going to do a short presentation for you about reading curriculum and um it is available on uh the cover picture I want to thank M light in her sixth grade class uh for letting me come and uh read we are here
019a book during afan American reading that that picture there and I hope you all were able to that um so as the first at the first uh slide it's a front and back for those of you that have cop um why new reading curriculum uh it talks about science of reading and it's just that in 2018 the district identified needs for new reading curriculum there was an Ela Review Committee um composed of uh different uh diverse stakeholders and they began their work in 2019 however um you know right after 2019 Co happened and that committee stalled and um some of the work did not move forward but with uh wide inconsistencies across the four uh School Four elementary schools where we looking at the opportunity to find the curriculum that meets the needs of um
020students uh currently it's important for you to see on that next slide currently what's happening we have the teacher C College uh reading and writing project that's happening in the school it is um as you see there was dissolved by the teachers college but it's a outdated curriculum it's um also has been shown to uh call some it prevents us to have some grant opportunities that if we wanted to reach out for a grant through the state you have to have something that is a time to deight reading that particular one is not so if we keep it we're going to prevent us from having Grand opportunities um it's also not aligned to the science reading so um that information is important for you to know and also important for you to know is Massachusetts
021moved to the forth shifts in literacy and this was um this guided the work that we're doing since 2023 um it started with what the district was looking at and so they said okay how can we um really think about what kind of curricula we put in front of our students which is going to make the most difference for them based on the science of reading and going to make most difference for all students um we have to pay attention to our year Divergent students our elll students at real income all of those particular segments so we're not just looking for something that's going to appeal to the mass but for all of our student groups um just some information on the four shifts for you uh we talk about explicit uh Dr atic foundations
022and that's all children need clear structured lessons um in phonics word recognition and decoding skills to become confident readers um the second shift is engaging with complex and knowledge Rich Text it's student built comprehension by discussing and learning the challenging books and topics that expand their knowledge uh the third shift is targeted small group instruction we know small group instruction is focused on either foundational skills for our early readers our comprehension for complex text rather than just reading at Great level or reading at level text great level and level text to different within and then last the fourth shift was balance literacy block and it's uh making sure that we understand the importance of every day including time for phonics reading writing and discussion to develop all aspects of literacy that brings us to where
023we are now with our pilot uh we are piloting magnetic reading found foundations um that is a great K2 uh foundational skills reading program at pelum it's being uh piloted in uh first grade and we are now in year two of this pilot it is not fully implemented yet across all grade levels um but it has provided some positive um positive signs in terms of the data and it is um provides early insight into structured literacy approaches um and we're hoping to move as a district across the system where we're addressing those things with students K so you might be wondering what's different it is an evidence-based structured literacy approach and that what's different is on yeah you got it so yes you're flipping um it transitions away from the reading and writing project uh
024to really deal with explicit um this actually the four shifts that I just mentioned yes on the back so it deals with the fores shifts in um that in literacy that we're talking about so we're looking at um systematic instruction increased focus on decoding influency high quality diverse Tech remember we want our students to see themselves in the curricula that we choose and there's greater integration of writing and oral language development um one of the components of the reading curriculum that we're piloting in uh the first grade is the opportunity to really gather some data on where students are so remember in order for us to be able to move students we need to know where they are how did the instruction really inform their learning and then what kind of shifts and pivots and
025practice do we need to make based on that to keep them movement forward and um the magnetic uh foundations allows us to use the I ready diagnostic there is the beginning of the year middle of the year and end of the year diagnostic that goes with it that allows us to really see progress over time um if you look at the next page with the graph I purposely put the one here so you can see that it's only a one grade so as we think about this and it's in grade one but there's an expanded version on your next slide where you really dig and see the data uh the top line is our midyear uh data and that bottom line right under underneath it was the beginning of the year data um I hope
026you notice that there's lots of green yeah so there's progress that has been made if you look at below you'll see particular strands that we're um talking about but overall it's um it's shown to really have made um positive student growth I want you to also be mindful that I am not sharing disaggregated data with you because we have a small group and if I disaggregate it in any way you'll know students so I will not be doing that although when you're with the region might see that this is why that's not happening here and you'll notice that same thing for your mcast data propellum it does not get disaggregated and I want to make sure everyone in the community is aware this is why we're not looking at specific things because there might be
027one child and we don't want that um called out for them um but notice that what's happening is the the growth has been um really positive and as we look at what kind of interventions like what happens to go from beginning of the year to mid year so the curriculum's working the way the teacher working with the students is working as we look at small groups that information's working those are the things that we highlight and this is why we think this is a systematic approach that all schools could use that this is promising this is showing that our kids are not only moving but if you look at the end where the red is that um more more of our kids are coming up so it's getting it's decreasing in terms of the kids
028not on grade level so it goes from a grade level one grade level behind two grade level behind and three grade level behind that's what the Vans are for um I'm going to stop there um so as you look as the light green dark green yellow light red dark red that's what those represent um for you I'm going to stop there for a second because there's not much more and I want to make sure you have a second to look at the the chart before we go on what does early on grade level mean early on grade level means that students have the skills so that they're actually reading like they're at the cup but being great right there okay ear and I have Miss Stephanie here Joyce who is our k6 uh curriculum person
029who's also here to help me make sure I say things properly um but as you go past and you look at what's next the hope is that we get more expand the pilot to more grades because we can see just from our first grade that this is really helping and it's important that we know that being able to understand the shifts and help move teacher practice is it also helps to have a curriculum that helps us do some of those strategies have the strategies embedded in it and also provides us the diagnostic information make in time switches and changes in practice to have better serve students so expand the pilot and then also offer professional development to teachers to know how to use it to know how to actually you read the data and say
030okay what do I do now but I think the more teachers that are using it in the pilot it gives an opportunity to have that collaboration with another colleague to say here's what I'm seeing what are you seeing um how are you using this how are you um shifting practice what kinds of things would you suggest and recommend and U that's the importance I think of having multiple grades and hopefully the entire school that's one point I'm ready for that um I do want to say that um as we think about our curriculum across all of our districts especially here with pum it is not just about oh let's find a nice little curriculum to use it's about e it is ensuring that all students have access to opportunities to succeed and having differentiation available
031for them to meet their needs where they are so that's very important and it is seeing themselves in the literature that they're reading so it is focused on all of those things the shifts but intentional Equity intentional opportunities for students to be able to to grow and stretch in ways that meet their diverse needs um it's important that our principles um Mickey and our principales in the Amis District have been talking about how do we better align and that's been I think a positive thing and will only be positive for our students as we go forward and start thinking about the future of instruction here in P but in our district and region as a whole um I want to thank you for the opportunity it's short because the question was oh tell us about
032the new curriculum so the pilot curriculum in first grade is doing a great job right now with an excellent teacher I should I should start with it's when teachers are doing the work and doing the training and really putting time in we have dedicated teachers in pelum as well as across other districts but when they have the tools they need to succeed it makes it an easier left for so I want to thank you I want to offer Stephanie an opportunity to maybe say some things and if there's something I need to PR please say so um but I'm sorry thank you so early on grade level means that they're scoring on their grade level but not where they should be at the point in Year all right so early on grade level means that
033I should be there like in the first month or two of the school year so at this point of the school year they should be at like first grade six six months mid year right early on grade level means that they're first grade but probably second month or third month so it's earlier in where they should be versus so they're on their grade level they're staring for first grade just not on like where they should be for this part in the school year the dark the dark the dark green is where the kid should be in mid you don't know this is mid want to keep in mind that the yellow represents the fact that we're only mid year in the year so we don't expect everybody to meet grel benchmarks until June so we
034expect some children to be in that r with um T's shared everything that's important I think we all thank Dr Z for supporting professional development this fall for all of our K2 teachers um from Pals K K2 special educator um and our other K2 teachers in the district District in explicit systematic structured literacy Foundation skills so there was that opportunity for everyone um and thank Mickey and um Miss Gonzalez for supporting the opportunity for this pilot here at to it's been really instrumental in providing us with information we need I guess I would just also say that some of you will recognize that this curriculum comes to us from curriculum Associates that also provides our K5 math program so heavy advantage of having one data platform for our Educators and our administrators as well I
035wondered about that when I saw the I the I ready is this being piloted in any other districts in the area ammer in ammer yeah there are more classrooms with ammer will that data also be on their agenda for am for am for us to look at I want I don't in the elementary right the K5 with the ammer just so I could have a comparison oh okay um yes they absolutely you could also just ask to compare ask us to compare P to to district and we could compare them to the district closest to as well as any other districts in Massachusetts so you can see how p I was just curious how this program is doing I know I didn't know if I could look on board dos that's what I was asking
036is it gonna be on board but no this was special to tell this was requested yes but I'm happy to get you some comparison can have it that's absolutely and later this week the CC Associates is doing um an overview for the whole district for Dr Z um and for us um so we look at districtwide curriculum in that and reading so they have have to share with you that's the six um I get my question did teacher yourself feel like it's successful does she feel like it's successful for her and for the kids and that it had like you know grow potential yes um it is so I'm going to give an example of the old curriculum when we were assessing kids we use these little books and um it had vocabulary in it
037like d i when I came across that I was like what the heck is that um and I had to mark it wrong because the kids didn't know how to pronounce it or even what it was and and it just wasn't it was very it didn't give us much information those assessments this this these assessments along with the reading program at level with level books with very structured literacy with the science of reading is is exactly where we need to be I'm um I would say I'm a little biased because I have been trained in how to teach reading um but that shouldn't really make me bias that you know that's a good thing right more critical like you know a whole wi about this yeah and so um I think it's wonderful because it's
038really Narrows in on what the students need the most support in um and also it requires the teachers too because the teachers can say well that is because it was a time test and so and so you know doesn't do well under pressure or kind of talk slowly or whatever so it's it's a combo definitely um but I think it's been extremely helpful the way that not only the program will tell you groupings that also Supply some ideas for intervention or what the kids might need um for those skills and the PB that the teachers have received this year they've even learned how to deep do deep dives into the data and create more inter more intentional intervention groups um so I think you also mentioned professional development and I think that's huge because I
039was not taught how to teach reading in uh my master's program I had to seek it out afterwards and I think that it's really important for especially K2 teachers but I would argue even about that to know the science and how to read so um I think it's always been part of the discussion with the new curriculum that we make sure we give our teachers some professional development around that it feels to me that this system is more about like managing for success right rather than like I felt like the old way where you like Del um like looking for failure right like it feels like it's a yes it's all about teaching and learning right but you're not like testing to make it wrong you're like testing to make it better yeah so I
040I think for me I think for me when you look at the PO um comprehensive programming teachers use all aspects for example when the data comes in for it they actually also small group of students like say hey these students have the same you know issues when it comes to this standard here are some mini lessons that you can use so it's very teacher friendly and engaging on say dive in um and for me I would like to see I I love that there's very little red and there's a lot of yellow but yellow is still one grade level below which means that our first graders are still on the kindergarten class whether it's kindergarten n nth month 10 10th month so it's like what are the strategies and skills that we need to bump
041our students up and support them in so that we can get them to to on grade level and I feel like once we use anything with Fidelity um and we apply it and we we instruct then we'll start to see the goals so for me I'm I'm really fingers crossed hoping that next year it's going to be a lot more consistent and it's going to be if we're doing K2 then we're rolling into K3 and we're rolling into sixth grade because there needs to be a level of consistency across across the Gres and I believe they go up I mean magnetic greeding right now is K five we have K too but the whole site is goes to five six and in January 6th grade so there is an opportunity for us to push straight
042through to sixth grade so they'll have that continuity and flow of again my favorite word data driven instruction but not data to oh my gosh test test test no data to build upon your skills and that's what I like to see how was the um all I can think is evaluations and that's not the right word but how do you how are the kids assest assess yeah sorry I just could yeah there's all there's uh sub tests and so so is it computer or paper or it's they go in with the teacher and some of it is reading off a computer and some of it is teacher yeah so it's it's different subtests some of it's time some of it's not some of yeah and how's the anxiety of the kids when they do the
043assessments um I'm sure there are kids who are anxious yeah um but they're used to being pulled um three times a year at the very least to come do these um but this program has Brain Breaks right they they so they also have like little games in between the assessment so like like they're testing but then there was like a brain break and like a quick two three minute It Go fish with it so if you walk in you think like oh my God they change screens no it's actually built in to the program where they know that kids need certain levels of like that so some of them actually see it as a fun tool you know yeah so the assessments are all done for the most part on a computer with the teacher
044support or the or the teacher is following along yeah and it's oneon-one then it takes a staff member per child to do the testing yes and what happens three times a year three times a year so what's going on with the rest of the class during that time if you don't have a par in the room anymore they're doing their intervention so um to support all children to be learning while some children are being assessed we've maximized the use of our reading Specialists and our reading intervention colleagues to to do those assessments um and and the assessment can be broken up over many days so we recognize when a child could be having an off day and you know we can adjust for that so yeah so our special ed teacher and our intervention teacher
045uh divide and conquer okay and do you feel like that that is realistic to do that on Sixth grades with that staff like to do testing for does that make sense right now you're testing in one class indidual special it's different get more that would be a lot to sorry to Wrangle while you're doing individual testing with limited staff and testing for older grades takes longer yes but it's more independent they don't need those K two this is what we're looking at K two but it does take time yeah and this is rolling out for K2 next year you roll out for this is the second year this started last year so we do it in kindergarten Carly no so we're piloting across the district and it was an option to be piloting we hope
046that next year it will involve all of our K2 classrooms okay so this year it's just first it's just first next year it might be K first and second it will be it will be very next year okay wonderful then we come back next year we'll have almost but thank you all and thank you you know it might just be helpful to know that because Dr Z asked this question too why are we ping again a second year because it availed us of the opportunity to to have grants come our way if we had decided to implement right after year one when we were meeting we could already show successes with the evidence it gave us this opportunity if we call this a pilot again to be able to be considered for Grants so thank
047you this is really great to hear about really appreciate the time us thank okay [Music] right Micky you're next all right well um I what no I'm okay okay I you can look at it I I almost know it okay um so I put together data from and I did a comparison of beginning of year to middle of year for ELA and for math um and I will say that when you're looking at the which slide did I put first sorry I should have brought Ela um I combined the above grade level and at grade level um because I felt like that was yeah um and then when you're looking at the data at what you will notice is it goes up for above grade level and then the purple purple's my favorite color goes
048up for above grade level and then the next one the purple goes down and you do want it to go down what is concerning is the last row where it goes back up again um when you when we're digging into the data though we look at individual classrooms we look at the kids who score below we look at what's happening it might be the timed test we um in those intervention meetings that we were I was just talking about um just a perfect example we had a meeting today where a student scored low on their Ela diagnostic that's we call we're calling them we call them um that's what we're we call them um and we we like talked about the student and we're like we need more information on this student and so the
049intervention teacher works with the student and we had a meeting today and the student has made so much progress in all areas that the assessment was timed and the mom was like yeah she doesn't do time you know like there's certain things that just we're not going to see in one dipstick of data um so even though that score at the end uh for below grade level dipped up I we you know we dug deep into each gray Bubbles and like Tanya said I didn't want to do it by gr bubble um for math math is and I originally did the green yellow and red um um and decided that it wasn't showing the the weird thing about the I ready math diagnostic results is that for example a a grade will have 50% green
050and the teacher will be like what oh my God you know that's where you want them to be you want them to be 50% of the way mid year and so I didn't want to show it that way I wanted to show it at um in the similar way that I showed the ELA that we are having progress at or above and the purple is going down in the other two um levels as the years have gone by with I read this is now our third year with I ready um um the data is getting better and better um and um I think the teachers have become more and more Savvy with the data which is really exciting I remember my first year as principal I decided I was going to do a data meeting
051and um everyone kind of freaked out uh because it wasn't something that they were used to doing and I have to say with the two new curricul uls and the two new assessment uh platforms that we're using teachers are getting more and more comfortable and it is uh so much easier to see where kids are struggling and with what and how to give them those prerequisite skills that they might be missing uh to access what they're doing so I am happy with the data um it is funny that you know the teachers who have like the one of the strongest performing classrooms will freak out at the 50% or the 48% and I had to video one of the um curriculum Associates saying during one of my PDS 50% is where you want them to
052be she didn't believe me him um and you know by the end of the year you want to see that green you want to see most kids get um to 100% of growth uh you're you know it's all about growth for them how much growth that student has made as well so we look at that um and it's really telling if a student's not making growth we really need to dig in and figure out why they're not making growth and what's getting in their way but that's kind of rare so um thinking ah head so you mentioned end of year would that data then be available next fall for us um I imagine we'll have a school committee meeting after we get the all the data at the end of the year because we'll do
053it well before the end of the year we'll do it um in time for the classroom teachers to do their report cards and great but I think the data is heading in the right direction um showing it is what you see in in the classroom and unfortunately there are students who are going to be in the red they're a lot of the kiddos who we already know and have IEPs and we'll hope for them we look at their growth and we try and get them there's also we can also track track their stretch growth what they need to do to get to grade level so we're also able to look at that with this program um yeah thank you um Dr Z you sort of already gave us the after school update but we're between
054and Meg we're GNA get a date on the calendar or like I told Mickey they'll be after school I'm sorry we're going to get we're trying to finalize a date on the calendar or they won't be after school right so we're working on that okay okay fames be notified if there yeah I don't have much to do that said will families be notified in a Time fashion if there's a stop ta um since we have people here who maybe don't know what the issue is about the after school sure um so the after the after school program um I think when I first of all I've learned learn that school programs are not really run by the schools um that was something completely different and you for me coming as a superintendent most after school
055programs in my past have been led by the school leadership um here in pelum there have been some issues that have trickled that has trickled from after school into the school in the morning and resting on the school leadership team to address and to clarify because individuals immediately assume that the principal um Can intervene or is responsible for what's happening um these incidents have kind of escalated to the point that the that Niki has brought it forward to me um I've been trying to have a meeting and then like I said today I was notified that 911 car was made and so I didn't have a chance to speak to to micke because she was dealing with it at the time when I called her um but for me that was the kind of the
056straw that broke the C's back um and so I think that we need to step in make sure that our paperwork is correct in terms of our agreements um also knowing that there's a level of responsibility that after schools need to have which is if there's there's conflict address the conflict resolve the conflict inform parents because when they come into the schools in the morning they are looking to the school leader to address it and to fix it because they're assuming she's aware but it's not her program so we need to kind of clarify that okay all right and the contract and the contract is up we need to make sure our contract is a good one because if I'm responsible I want to know I want to know that's really the bottom line I
057want to know if I need to oversee it or I maybe get paid a little more to do that okay thank you next is yes well being that I'm usually longwinded I'm going to be fairly short today because I'm just going to highlight um the uh Community engagement Leon portion of my job particularly the uh superintendent uh init of the every caregiver counts here at pelum and that is focused on ensuring that every parent and caregiver feels informed included and empowered to participate in their child's education and brother School community so um I want to report that the pelum family connections initiative is rolling out uh we are actively responding back to uh families who have responded back to the uh the parent survey that went out so right now we are actively scheduling appointments
058we have actually one coming up tomorrow and two next week uh the pelum family connections uh just went out in the newsletter and it it is also going to start appearing in the PTO forums uh with Miss Karen Peters in the PTO uh group uh I'm also going to be participating in the pum family fun night which is coming out next weekend so that that'll be a great opportunity to connect with parents directly talk about pum talk about the initiative and start scheduling um uh appointments so right now I'm actively reaching out to over two dozen families to connect with them to build community Through Communications and I would say that um it is starting to pick up I'm getting emails and inquiries about it so I look forward to being able to present some
059feedback and data from the call that we have so far and also I just wanted to highlight um the uh student engagement with the mentoring groups which have really uh started and soared to the point that uh right now we have about 65 total students between grades six four five six uh in between um fifth and sixth grade where we have whole grade mentoring weekly and also fourth grade as well and we just started with some individual mentoring so so the fact that we can sort of cover about half of the students so far in pelum with constant mentoring positive supports is a positive uh a positive uh direction that we're going in and once again the hel family connections we strive to build Bridges create strong sense of community by fostering open respectful and
060meaningful conversations with families so these are going to be really good uh getting to know you uh with the fam finding out their hopes their dreams what they're looking to accomplish and also giving them an anchor here in school and once again just want Tok thank Dr Z for uh the initiative of putting the student and family engagement in the school um at the school level and also working with Mickey three times a week with school supports have been really um I say inspiring and really u a growth really growing for me so for the mentoring groups we we're just ending our second session we're going to be having three more sessions which will go through June 20th so I'm looking to also report back at our next school committee meeting on some data feedback
061from the students it maybe some testimonials and maybe invite some families here to talk about it as well so that's my quick let me know get it on the agenda um it sounds like a lot has happened since the last meeting when we with us that there been a lot more connection yes yes and I think getting the the word out there just trying to really figure out what exactly is it what does this mean is this a group thing is it individual uh but I am actively this month um going to uh reach out you know to to all the people that responded to the uh surveys but also people that didn't respond to the surveys because as we know um I don't know the exact numbers but I know a lot of parents
062school choice so the fact that we have to build community when people don't actually live in a community is a feat but I think it can be done through having that connection point with the school so we've been having positive feedback look forward to he more all right that is our agenda for tonight um I just want to thank Moren brim is bullying reduction intervention in monitoring we were trying to figure out and we could we had several of the words just not in anyone try Google yes did could find it I even went bullying reduction intervention and mon yeah we were close though I'm very proud of us and as we we had growth I so I went on onps thats I wasn't there I was we were proud of ourselves I'm proud of
063you right now great job team that's right different path it takes a whole team to different Pathways to success C so um the last thing before we adjourn is items for our next agenda next meeting which will be the first Tuesday in gosh um so we'll hear back for you DNE we'll get another update for you um I would be really interested if you have any data on attendance absenteeism I mean I don't know if that's anything you can give us about how that's happening over the course of is that how what's happening like what we do about it we doing with absentee ism is getting better it is getting better and um what's interesting is when you look at the data oh do you want me not to I'll bring it next reading I
064can talk about anything for a while I mean when it comes to this okay yeah we'll put you on the list that in April would it be time for 43 update 43 up okay well I I know it's really an agenda item but I would love to have an Insight on how families are communicated with and so that the school committee members can also be included in those which I feel like we are somewhat because we get these random invitations through Google meet Google something from Marquita just to invite us to oh I do to various random things that are happening at P elementary but I don't always quite know what they are but I get these random Google invites for different things so like it' be nice to if we had a page to
065go to or a place to go to or I don't know yeah I keep well when we send out the newsletter I put school committee um I know we'll work from our office on better communication and getting stuff out more timely because that's a conversation that we're having as well so that things can be clearer in terms of what's happening and going to every every we I don't think I'm getting I don't think I'm getting it either it may be that that pum school committee list is not up to date did you get when I stuff you get from yes come the ones did you I sometimes I send stuff directly to well sometimes I just put Margaret to I put marget okay so I'll talk to Jerry yeah that would be good I'm not
066trying to create more work but no I'm already already but I I also think like some some context helps like okay so some information about communication that's fine okay great yeah working on one thing I'll just mention which I didn't before is that Cent I'm meeting with the p finance committee tomorrow I don't I don't know if are you was it's at noon here I I'm not really sure what it's going to be I mean I can tell them that we passed the budget okay I also have BCG so I'll speak to Shannon and see who can I'll talk to her [Music] today favor okay