001thank you good evening everybody it is October 9th um this is our school committee meeting and the ashle Ashlin Public Schools strives to be a model District that creates a culture of inclusivity for our diverse students and staff who feel safe and supported are empowered with the academic and social emotional skills to pursue their chosen path and embrace their roles as positive contributors to local and Global communities this meeting is being recorded by waca cable TV this evening we'll have our call to order opening procedures agenda review and adoption there will be time for public participation reports and presentations include school committee student advisory Council AHS student counselor warrant approvals superintendent report assistant superintendent report the action items discussion updates include second read of policies LCR guidelines for managing life-threatening allergies superintendent goals masc Mass
002resolutions clubs and activities the consent agenda includes September 25th 2024 minutes gifts and donations and grants one by one Grant from four imprint there will be reports of school committee members and then we will adjourn so I'll just take attendance and ask if everybody's okay with the order of business this evening Marcy here and yes Tina yes Paul yes Mark yes okay um so I will uh ask if there's anybody in the audience or online who would like to offer public comment okay seeing none we will move right to the school committee student advisory Council yeah it's hi my name is Vanessa Thompson um so just some updates with School uh for athletes we've implemented the navigating through quicksand so um once a week every Tuesday we have um a lady come in and and
003she presents to us like different ideas and strategies on how to like become better captains and how to lead like our teams and like basically it's all about like like culture building and just making sure that like everybody is on the same playing field and um it's been like a big success and I think the culture like throughout all the teams is definitely building and we're seeing like more positive impact with all the sports teams um having better results and and just like coming together more and then there are a lot of college visits that are coming through with all the seniors so about like once a week during xblocks the a bunch of colleges will come in and students can sign up and we're seeing a lot more of seniors um signing up for
004those and taking advantage um and meeting with like admission counselors and just learning more about like the colleges that they'll be applying to and there's also a family reconnect weekend this weekend so that means that um all classes are exempt from giving homework that will be due the following first day of classes and um but this is not this doesn't apply to the AP classes due to like the tight schedule that they have to stick with um but it's just kind of a way for students to get a break in terms of like work on the weekend and um it's pretty beneficial and we have like three throughout the year thank you um hi my name is son M Swami um I just wanted to inform and talk about Ashton day um thank you first
005off thank you for supporting us and supporting School clubs um which allow them to be more vocal on their cause and to show people in the community what we do and um which we're which is like not often um able to do during school um this despite all the rain that happened a lot of students showed up eager to support their clubs and I think there was around 20 student groups who um participated and organized numerous and fun events um um um also the QR codes um this which was recently introduced has helped many people who don't have cash which was very efficient during the Ashen day um and help transactions happen much smoother um also I know that the last time it's happened was in 2019 and many Club leaders and teachers have um
006said how they're eager to have this happen much more times in the future and maybe like better weather but it doesn't matter despite the weather people were still great and showed up also the cell phone policy has been implemented in our school um many students are seen without their cell phones but they're much more focused on their tasks instead of being distracted which is like easily can happen um it's also provided much more equal space in um classrooms some teachers they um they used to not have cell phone uh be restricted but now it's much more equal and um better yeah thank you thank you thank you so again I'm abash carthik and today we're missing two members actually we're missing Maximo Gamboa who is out for work and uh Sophia wety who um has
007a track match I believe and so I just wanted to give an update on things that are happening in the future and things that are going to happen uh that already happened so to start off we had a couple school safety drills so we talked about Alice schoolwide and I know we were talking about that the first meeting I was here and we also had fire drill so the first fire drill I believe did not go so well but we updated some protocols so I believe we should be doing much better now and so picture day just happened as well um and retakes are in a couple days I believe yeah so like around two weeks and um so for upcoming events next week we have a very busy week with PSATs on Wednesday which
008is also a community service day for the underclassman and um a future plan planning day for seniors uh also NHS applications are due tomorrow I believe and um college applications are getting into full swing for our seniors also next week we have the homecoming uh homecoming event which I believe student council will be talking about more so for that we have the rally dance uh spirit week and also big football events and so yeah I believe that's all of it uh thank you guys for coming um thank you Miss iner and that's all for us do you guys have any questions any questions thank you no thank you okay good stuff thank you everybody okay next up AHS student council hello all right hello everyone my name is Sarah mixus my name is Bobby Abramovic
009and we are seniors at Ashen high school and also the President and Vice President of the student council So today we're here just to talk a little bit about the student council and what we do some of our plans for this year but specifically we want to highlight what we do for the school community at large so uh our board consists of obviously the two of us but then we also have our secretary Yasha Hua Ami sha our treasur Ella Dickinson our historian and then our advisers are Mr wixer and miss mazini so now we're going to talk a bit about what we do so one of our main functions is to fundraise to give back to the school so recently we've bought new water fountains with water bottle fillers in all the hallways in
010our school we've also last year brought um a bunch of supplies for our different departments we have a box of cords that we got for Miss St cerr that's available for faculty that may need them like for projectors or other technological things and then we have a propane grill that we bought for Club use and other school ride events that we've used since uh our freshman orientation and Senior convocation and we're always open to suggestions from teachers and faculty so we let them know like when we presented at the faculty meeting last last month that we are here as a resource for them and we periodically try to reach out to the Departments throughout the year to see if there's anything we can do to support them or the school as a whole we're also
011always looking to help out in more Hands-On ways with jobs around the school for example in the past we've had members cleaning desks or prepping labs for different classes we always need more credit so we often reach out to teachers to see if we can assist in any way and make their lives a little easier also if any of the teachers ever need assistance from students they let us know and we can try to make that happen so here are all of our events um what the dates so we have clocker idle pancake breakfast and bingo night and all of them are open to the public so we hope to see you all there uh so right now we are actually getting ready for a homecoming rally and dance next next week yes so our
012spirit week will be from Tuesday October 15th to Friday the 18th with of course our dance on Saturday the 19th so recently we've been looking specifically to our teachers to be chaperon for our dance to be rally volunteers specifically in our teacher chair race and also to help us advertise for Spirit Week participation to get the whole school involved so that is about all from us so thank you for indulging us and letting us talk about our club and all that we do and while of course we plan a lot of events for our students and members more importantly we just wanted to share how much we do to give back to our school and our faculty however we can so thank you and we hope you enjoyed the rest of your day thank you
013thank you and thanks for all you guys do that's amazing anybody have any questions about any of that yeah I guess my only question is actually for uh for gim is for the Fountain and things like that that seems like it's something that we should structurally do as opposed to yeah this was in the high school it was never done initially that was one of the um initiatives they took probably a couple years I was going to say I've heard about that many years ago I don't disagree with you Paul it's like providing supplies to teachers and and families we finally did that for mes and Warren this year right uh yeah we shouldn't necessar be asking for that either yeah I mean the other things like the grill and those are extra things but
014you know uh I agree for you guys taking yeah thanks for doing that I just feel like we should have done it I agree so that's part you know I invited themop um we've had the uh student council come and present to our faculty you know the last couple years at the beginning of meetings because um everyone does think of them as they plan the the fun events that that happen in the building like the rallies but they really do so much um for school community and are always putting out there how can we help how can we um be of assistance to the teachers that are doing so much for them so I you know just want to thank them so much for that and um you know they've they did um helped pay
015for the sign that's out front the digital sign the banners that are around the building they've done um all of that and um I think they often look to and see things that we don't even realize are missing you know we've had water bubblers since the building opened um but it was students that came and said we really would like to get um bottle pillers um because you know we're doing a better job bringing our bottles um and you know I don't know many how many years ago it was six years ago at list I think that um the first ones went in and even back then the plumbing was so difficult to do um and then the last couple years they've been able to make it happen so um we're very grateful um and
016in terms of updates um and from the high school they do an amazing job so they have shared a lot but that you know what I would like to reiterate is um the cell phone policy has really not it's not the policy has not changed um how we are um enacting it has changed in terms of the teaching staff coming together and saying we're going to be consistent on how we um model that and um meeting with The Advisory Group yesterday um that was the word that the students used that they loved the consistency of the teachers and um you know we kind of had the conversation that you know we all expected there was going to be a lot of um push back and that this was is going to be really difficult um
017and the students have been amazing um and compliant and I think um from those that I've talked to do see um do see the benefit of not having the distraction while they are um you know during instructional time so um you know we are grateful that um the teaching staff has um come together to say we're going to be consistent with this um and that the students have been so amazing with it um and the other updates you know we've talked about some of the safety things that we've been working on um this year and again uh students ask a lot of great questions and have been really Cooperative um when we talk about some of the district initiatives you know they're obviously at a higher level um in terms of their ability to participate
018and drills and have conversations about what we're doing to keep them safe um and St they've been wonderful with all of them um and the final update I'll talk about is next week um which is definitely going to be a very busy week at Ashton high school school um but we are um looking forward to Wednesday when we'll have uh 240 students taking the PSATs um I think all of our seniors are uh planning um you know great ways to spend the days whether I just got an email about a job shadow and um you know whe they're working on college applications which are going to come du very soon um essays Etc um exploring different options hopefully going to visit some places um and um the uh community service sign up sheet for the
0199th and 10th and 11th graders who aren't taking their PSATs closes tonight um we still have a few more that need to get in there but again that is you know if they can choose to come to school for a regular day if um they do not want to participate in the service but we had um about 280 kids signed up um at when I last checked it at the end of the school day today um with some amazing opportunities um within the school district and all over the community um we have kids going to three different YMCA ites um we have students going to restore through habitat um we have students um going to Unity Farm in Dover or sherban sherban um which is um you know protects animals Sanctuary um and then we
020have kids going to all our schools um there will be projects at Ashton high school um and we have students coming to the town hall um and all the other offices within the community and then a lot of students who are um finding their own service opportunity um through organizations that they already work for um we'll be spending some time that day um engaged in those activities so we're looking forward to it um a lot um you know it's still new our second time around um a lot to learn um on how we roll it out and uh timing um we you know definitely next year won't do it the same week as homecoming week um um and a short week uh uh and our community service adviser I'm kind of took over the planning
021and rolling everything out this year which has um been amazing um but again you know learning curve as we kind of you know think of the three things that we hadn't thought of but I'm looking forward to a great day with students having some wonderful opportunities Kelly can I ask a quick question you mentioned a lot of different sounds like really amazing community service opportunities were those all set up through ashin high school or are those some of the ones that students also set up on their own the the we set up the ones that I mentioned nice yes that's awesome yeah yeah so for people who are for example coming to this building are they responsible for getting themselves here yes that is the transportation is the one piece that um students have to
022be responsible for their own transportation if they're doing opportunities outside of um the high school and and the Middle School in some cases and so what what do we have for some means of seeing how it really goes with you know kids either following through and what they've signed up for if kids haven't formally signed up for something you know how do we kind of how do we evaluate the success of of the day so we'll be sharing out the students that are signed up for through our opportunities obviously we'll be sharing out their those names with um the different groups that are hosting students so they'll be able to take attendance um we have several staff members that are volunteered to spread out and visit the sites and help supervise at the sites um
023and those that aren't signed up at all um we'll be reminding them they should be coming to school for a regular attendance day and then we'll have our regular attendance procedures thank you than thank you everybody good night all right you too you're all good well between September 26 2024 and October 9th 2024 I Paul Kendall authorized by my signature payables in the amount of $622,500 5,600 $535 and Grant expenses of $ 27,7 159 thank you Jim great uh so just a few things I know Tina will probably mention this as well but last night um all the administrators um were at ashon high school library celebrating uh with ashack uh are lighting the way uh award recipients and and what this has come out of is our parents of special education students write and
024nominate Educators it can be anyone across the district it's not you know just um teachers it can be par professionals administrators special education coordinators Etc uh where uh they they write in and nominate um an educator to to say thank you for the work that they've done throughout um uh whether it's last year and it's last year um last year with with Someone's Child it's really a nice night it's a nice way of recognizing the hard work that goes into uh working with our um unique Learners so so that was a nice event that was last evening um Mike and I were fortunate uh last end of last week we were um went to the New England Association of school superintendent conference where I'm on the executive board and and we focused a lot on
025um seal and social emotional learning and and the ability to uh what we're finding is across all of New England uh it's a challenge right everything is um you know we're still we're still not fully out of the co era if you will um but we seem to be and other states seem to be moving um to more normaly than what we were the last three years uh so it's always to me it's my one of my favorite conferences to to interact with with people from around uh New England to see what things are happening it rotates each year um into the the different uh States uh so next year we'll be uh back in the home state of Vermont um which will be great uh a couple other things um the I found something
026really interesting at a Tri County meeting and tri Count's again superintendent roundtables um when we're talking about pipelines of Educators and administrators um they were talking about uh the lack of of interest in educator being in education by our high school students and about 10 to 12 years ago that if if there was a survey done and it was about 18 to 20% of of students were were interested in going into education uh the most recent survey shows less than 4% um of of folks uh Ed you know high school students who have an interest in um going into education and I find that really concerning I think as we have conversations in um in schools about how do we encourage um you know our students to enter into the profession how do we get
027folks into administrative positions uh that's another uh real um concern that we have have at the the superintendent level is uh we used to have this um pipeline of of teachers who would then Ascend into an athletic director role or an assistant principal role and then eventually a principal role and then maybe an assistant superintendent and so on and so forth and eventually ending in the superintendency and I can tell you in my 16 years here in Ashland um we haven't had anyone you know we we've we've had had um Kelly um and Dave djo um and and Derrick Aon who hasn't been here for a long time but honestly the the the Educators who we identify and Mike and I have identified said they would be a phenomenal administrator they look at us and
028say Jim Mike no there's no way I'm going into that role nobody wants job nobody wants our job which is okay I guess I mean job security for us forever right right so but it's a challenge and I think it's just that as a bo uh you know even attending the MC M conference and and you have an opportunity to talk to your peers uh you know find out what they're doing in other districts to try to you know drum up um you know excitement to be in education uh it's a challenge for sure and the last thing I'll I'll mention is um Chris myself and Mike uh have been meeting uh with our aea Ash educator Association um membership and that's all of their representatives and their board their um that includes Administrative Assistant
029um the teachers the pr professionals as well as um the nurses uh on a monthly basis and and we were doing that well before covid and then when Co hit we sort of had that stoppage in that meeting process and and I think we're finding that the ability to come together on a monthly basis to have conversation uh it's all new leadership uh for the current aea uh as Michelle Smith has retired and you know while they're not necessarily contractual issues uh they're they're really a wonderful way for us to build relationships with this new board uh as we enter into uh the first year we're in the first year of a new contract uh with all four of those organiz or yeah all four of those units so um I would say that's about
030it all I have to to add tonight so awesome thanks Jim Mike uh this month uh we had our our initial U curriculum leadership team meetings that began uh we meet monthly with uh members of the different schools representing uh science math and Ela we started with our um math and our science teams we meet with Ela next week uh the focus of the initial meeting is to talk about uh item analysis Based on mcast data to take a look and um we're utilizing our open Architects platform and teachers really uh took some time to get a little bit more informed of how we can utilize that particular dashboard to help us drive some instructional practices uh it offers the opportunity to you know get us spreadsheets but we can really look deep into the
031specific item analysis comparing ourselves against our own District as well as uh against against the state data that we now have um because the mcast Embargo has now been lifted accountability data is available um and specific student data is going to be mailed home to parents um on the 11th so that's in two days so those mailings will be getting to folks probably early next week uh also I ready is is near 100% completion at this point we've had over 1700 students complete that nearly 1,700 students complete their test we're waiting for a few people to finish um those results will be shared with parents during October conferences for our K to 5 students and will be mailed home this year for all of our middle school students which is the first time we're doing
032that so I'm pleased that eron is going to be doing those mailings for all our Middle School families um data looks very similar actually uh to our fall data from last year except we've we've gone up by a percentage point or two in both Ela and math but it does typically look pretty similar in the fall obviously our most important thing is to see how the data shifts towards the spring for our growth data um educator evaluation update real quickly all Stu all self assessments and goals have been shared with evaluators um and at this point teachers are working hard to finish up their educator plans to show how they will go about achieving the goals that they proposed as you know they all propose a student learning goal as well as a professional practice
033goal that they work collaboratively with their evaluators to make sure that those things are happening um so those will be due um in the coming weeks uh I want to shout out to our our our evaluators who are doing a really fantastic job this year um we have made it a point to tell folks that we want to get in classrooms more often uh to do a much better job of uh giving useful feedback uh to our teachers regarding instructional practices um I I haven't I didn't do a comparison to where we were uh this this time last year but I can tell you based on uh just knowing how things are going we have done significant more we've been in the classroom much more we've got 117 observations done as of October 7th wow
034so our folks are really working hard to get into the classrooms regularly uh I've begun giving them weekly updates of how many uh observations have been done um as a whole team and I think that that's been useful for some of our more competitive people especially um but but we are getting in and um folks are doing a really nice job of seeing what's happening in the classrooms and providing teachers with some great feedback uh finally some professional learning that's been going on uh CPI training so Crisis Prevention Institute Training which is essentially uh how we are dealing with situations where students need to be assisted to make sure people are staying safe in any possible crisis situation um that and that training was uh led inhouse by Katie bent who was one of our
035Special Education team chairs as well as Paulie Krauss who was one of our new bcbas uh several of our staff members at the elementary level uh took that training with her this week um next year I mean next week I'm really excited for the first uh first day of our collaborative work that we do with men and Upton and Milford we continuing to work with them for specifically for our year two and year three teachers the year two teachers will be heading to Milford some of the year two teachers will be heading to Milford on 10:16 um some we headed to M Upton on 10 21 and we will be hosting here in Ashlin on 10:24 um the the focus of that uh training is that we do Collaborative Learning walks and we talk about
036what a learning walk is we teach folks about what to look for and then the the teachers work together on those walks to go in and see different instructional practices and then we come back and we talk about them and we talk about how we can use some of the practices we saw in our own instruction uh finally the last thing to talk about about is that Raptor has now been fully implemented I know we've talked about the Raptor technology that we're using now to make sure we are keeping a safe andure environment for all of our schools um knock on wood I haven't heard any negative feedback uh after the complete roll out I know it's a change for a lot of folks but our our uh forward- facing administrative staff is doing a
037wonderful job and and I appreciate the patience of parents and visitors understanding that things might take a little longer now when you're coming into dismiss your child because we're running that system through and for all visitors to ensure that they are bringing proper identification into our school building to ensure the safety of everybody who enters that building so it's going it is going well so far I may have asked us when you talked about Raptor last but um do we have a protocol in place for somebody who shows up without an ID yeah tell me what it is no we we do we do have protocols in place for for when that happens um so we can enter enter the system manually if necessary obviously we would prefer not to but we do have you
038know procedures in place if that has to happen the first thing we're doing though is asking them to go back to their car if they don't have it yeah fair enough that was me mik you also just mentioned I think I think part of it too is there will be some substantial changes at Warren as well as the middle school coming forward so if you go into um the Mendes is a great example right now right because you you get buzzed into into that that holding area if you will and um I can't say the word Paul you know go ahead you can't say best I can say vegetable um veg see it's a hard word for me so so you makes the holding are is perfect so but so we have like a banker's
039box there right uh that was built into to that but at at the middle school as well as at Warren you can actually walk in and and those doors can be closed and it's the same exact scenario there's a window there where administrative assistants can can open you know and grabb stuff or whatever so we're going to put in tables under just under those windows so parents never have to come in to drop off you know a Chromebook or lunch Etc uh it'll just make one less opportunity for people to come into the building um so that will be forthcoming uh Chris and John have ordered tables uh we still have to get a new um uh buzzer system at Warren we have one on the outside but we don't have one on the inside
040uh we removed removed it from inside to outside so we are looking at those things to make sure it's a lot more secure pway is a different challenge because we don't have the ability in the high school is the same way right there's the way it was designed there's no um no no vestibule there thank you thank you I had to slow the word down thanks excellent thanks guys so just speaking of Chromebooks actually um all the high schoolers except the seniors got new Chromebooks this year year wow so um I I mean I don't know like the cost figure for that but I'm assuming it was pretty hefty but um so my I this is my new Chromebook actually it's been working great and um yeah awesome just wanted to throw that up there
041thanks you thank Mr Matthew for continuing to put stuff on the capital plan and working with the town in the IT department yeah thanks yeah the students appreciate it they do great thank you okay um I'm not sure what the second read of policies yeah so so sorry so this policy we at the last meeting we forgot the the language that yeah there was we did not approve the policy because there was a sentence that we had agreed to have and I'm going to show it to you um that so it was the second reading approval of this policy we didn't approve it last time it was on the last um agenda but no but my concern is in I Council if it's not spelled out which policy we're having the second read it is
042the one that's underneath one under oh that's what that what I was confused about why are there two different cat the formatting the formatting it's messed up when you post it to the town uh versus the printed it off the town okay I was just like why do we have two categories so that's a challenge too right so we're still trying to work with the town with the regard to our new agenda format it doesn't necessarily fit perfectly within what because they want on their letter head Town letter head Etc so it it is correct I see where I can look at it now and see see it's it made it like its own category so yeah so okay the second read of the threatening allergies and and we were talking about it yesterday I'm
043just highlighting it Wellness committee so this is this was what we had talked about adding uh it was not in the last iteration that I shared at the last meeting uh so I'm just looking for you to approve the policy uh based on having this language put into it as requested that's all great yeah and thank you Tina and the folks who gave me feedback on that and the nurses so y excellent I'll move to approve uh policy jlc d-r guidelines for managing life threatening allergies as presented second all in favor I I I excellent okay you're up next with your goals okay so thank you uh so everyone had a chance to so a as you know each year at the beginning of the year uh we've been certainly more on top of things
044this year with making sure our go the goals get um set or draft goals get set sent to you um it's always a challenge right because a lot of times the work that I do um most of the work I do is is holistic in terms of the entire district and I'm asking Michael and and Chris and and the principles to do specific things within their departments their buildings um and so our goals are all intertwined and I try to make sure that as we set goals they they revert back to and coincide with the Strategic plan it's always a challenge to determine how many goals are appropriate uh what are I doing that's not really necessarily outside of the scope of my everyday work if you will uh because I think every time I
045read the goals it's stuff we're doing no matter what um and it's it becomes a challenge to identify what it is you all want me to focus on and because that's in the end it's about I can set the goals but if they're not what you're looking for me to do this is where the opportunity excuse me the opportunity for you to provide me feedback and I go back and rewrite these goals um and so in this iteration that you have I I've had gotten up to seven goals uh which I think is is too many is a challenge we we try to get between that three and five um frame but that being said um you know I I moved one goal from we can make it a goal or it's really Mike's goal
046and and the assistant superintendent's work as a lot of this stuff is again it's not just about me it's about the the Departments that we're working through there are two that I I would say are more specific to me for sure of of the goals I'm presenting so I don't know how you want to go about this I know I've shared them with you uh and I can just read the overall goals um and then the actions Andor benchmarks uh if if there's something you want to add to it I I did um you know provide ahead of time the opportunity for you to do that um right and that was my question to you Jim I I mean you did meet with Mark and I and we gave you some feedback did you receive
047feedback from I did and I Incorporated that feedback so what we're looking at now correct is all the feedback you've received to date that is correct okay yep so so again I will not spend a lot of time talking about key actions and benchmarks unless you want me to but it's really about the goal and I'll I'll give it a a more Global um context if you will is that right well so I think for the conversation are people generally pleased with the direction of the goals on a high level um are we focusing on the right things did we miss something is there something that's redundant I mean my only comment on it is I we do this every year year we go through this exercise of goals and we get goal happy and
048we end up with seven instead of three to five right and while I agree with Jim about a lot of this is already gonna it's going to happen or somebody else is going to drive the issue um I think In fairness to Jim and making sure that we're really kind of focusing on what's the most important if there's a way to call this down by at least a couple I'd like to see us do that I don't have any concerns about the substance of any of the seven mhm um but as I was just looking at it again now seeing seven and I think you had five or six when we talked the gy um you know when I think about like the first one right we talk about the Alice training the protocols I
049assume that all you're doing is making sure everybody else is done what they're doing and it's not something that you have hands on so while that's important and I want to make sure it happens I'm not sure that I see that as a as a goal level thing in the same way as some of the others are okay as observation but but I I will say before getting to the weeds of it I I'm really fine with all seven goals and statements of things that we that are appropriate and if at the end of the day you're going to say n leave it it's fine I don't you know I'm good with it I'm okay I just feel like um like I said we get goal happy and and sometimes I I worry that we
050cause you to go in too many directions at once well I think that's the nature of of my job right is that I am in a thousand different have my hands in we want to make it worse well right so so again contextually when we go back to the Strategic plan resource management and and providing a safe environment for all students and staff right that that's one of our our pillars and we've started the process starting in June with admin training under the Alice you know um protocols and and obviously you know AB talk we're getting the message out there in our schools at what we're doing I I think it's valuable again Mike leads the Safety Committee um but there's always conversation uh there was even you know when talking about safety you know
051I'm sitting in my office today working on something I hear Chris and and Mike having conversations about cameras and on in with transportation and who's going going to be responsible for making sure that the messaging is really clear to the community right as opposed to it should it come from Mike or or Chris or should it come from me uh you know so those are things that are that we're constantly having conversations about or they're excluding me from those conversations sometimes but um and I just overhear it but that being said um safety is one of them I mean I mean but just to go back I think we need to figure out what we want what's the purpose of the goals and the purpose of the goals can be many different things it could
052be hey you are pulled in all these directions Focus here it can be value statements of these things are important like you mentioned Alice so okay we're focusing on this it is it's going to happen whether we put the goal on there or not but it's another way to not publici but talk about it to the and so so it's all those things and so seven is fine if it's if if we're not if it's not distracting if if it's if we need goals to tell him hey something's going to fall off the truck don't let these things then Seven's too many but if we're not worried about that then seven's fine if it's to meet those other things so so it I think really depends on what what our intentions of these goals are
053and I think depending on and it can even change from year to year because our situation might be different and and so so Jim do you so do you do you feel that these would these are going to pull you in and and make you lose focus and if and and does anybody here think that the value needs to be hey let's make sure these three things don't fall off the truck right so to answer your question no I don't because I think part of what I am doing within at least three or four of the goals is management right it's ensuring that the folks are who are working on these goals are indeed working on those goals because then it becomes part of their evaluation right it becomes so so that first goal I'll
054be honest this is you know a Mr Kyo goal that is part of his evaluation tool did he meet those the goals that he's setting setting forth as part of the Safety Committee so so it's it's again I I think they're worthy to to publicize and to say hey we're focused on this this year as a school you know and as a school Community um my thoughts were going in the same direction as yours Paul I mean I was going to use different words but if some of these things fell off you're doing them anyway right like you're still responsible for managing some of these things that are other people are responsible for so it doesn't necessarily take anything off your plate it just it just now is a tool that you will be like
055like officially evaluated on um and if that's if that's a concern then we can just talk about that but it's it's not like we're adding more work it's just we're um highlighting the fact that these things are still ongoing but it doesn't really add anything to your work plate no there are a couple for sure that do right and which are you know I think critically important things that we do this year that we've sort of let um and they would be on there anyway those are the things things that I'm pushing forward saying like goal two District policies right I think we've had this conversation here we need to get back to reviewing that entire policy handbook for sure and you know I'm suggesting and we've already started it I'm suggesting that I I
056present to you you know a process of how we're going to do that and what policies uh we think are going to be the most valuable to uh review uh to might be not just what masc says but what we think in our district it should look like uh there's 280 policies that in the book and you know so you know it's a big job it's a huge job it's a huge undertaking so what I'm suggesting is that hey we get about 25% of them done this year um I was suggesting a little higher number and then I got feedback saying why don't we tune it down a little bit um because it does actually impact all of you as well um um it impacts you know Lori and Paul as the subcommittee to make
057sure we continuously meet I mean we're meeting on Thursday tomorrow it's our third meeting already of the year yeah yeah so it's great so we're getting in a rhythm of of things that we can start presenting we're starting with the higher level uh policies for sure but like for example though like we're already down the road on that goal you're not taking that off needs to be done we're already doing it everything starts in July if you look at it s seven sounds like a lot but if you look at each one most of them are already sure in the works but I would say that that one would be one that even if you're going to do it anyway you keep it on there because then you can use it as justification why you
058can't get pulled in another Direction where it's written down from us that this is a goal and therefore if that's what's going to fall off the truck for something else you can say no my my goal is this right right and so and if it needs to change okay we can come back and have that conversation but so so this one even though it would be something that you plan on doing anyway and we plan on doing uh is one of those ones where it can be being on the list is justification for something else not getting on your list right I I like where in the goals like goal number seven you write that it's District led by Mike so if there are goals that are dist like the safety if that's being District
059LED more by Mike maybe bifurcate that so when we doing the evaluation specifically for you at the end of the year we can you know uh provide you more feedback on the things you're driving to you and then the other things are more feedback you're providing to your team and you're the you know the person who's empowering them to to Champion that that initiative so of the seven I would say three are really being driven I think by me so be good to and I think you wrote that in the you know in the verbage but you know it's good to then I think that's manageable right yep I mean they're so um specific and well thought out with the action items I mean as someone who does this in my own career so I
060I like that you have such accountability for your team in this and it helps us I think Empower you to do what you need to do right well thank you so how do you want me to proceed then do you want me just to give a quick overview of the goals I know you've read them all I mean I want to waste your time I mean personally I've read them I understand them I I don't need yeah Ian I don't know we discussion for anyone who's watching focusing on safety communication curriculum once they're once they're approved I I post all my goals online just so everyone who's watching uh the process is posted online as well so so um you know goal one as I talked about is safety goal two um you know we're
061looking at our policies uh ensuring that that our policies are up to date we've got policies going back to 2002 and three that haven't been reviewed and uh we just need to go through that that book uh goal three again when we talk about curriculum and programming we've had these conversations uh we are kneee already uh with with looking at the middle school um schedule uh with M lashel and um you know we spent what an hour and a half with her today uh walking through our process and what we're looking to do and how we're looking to to um potentially revamp the schedule to be the best it can be for all kids in that building um so this will be stuff that will be coming to the school committee but yes I I
062went to even the faculty meeting of the middle school it's being driven by me 100% because I don't think the schedule is appropriate uh in terms of providing equity and access for all students in that building so we're going to change it well we will recommend a change and and because because it does have curriculum related um you know ramification some of the things you know we've talked about world languages we've talked about other things it will have to come before the school committee we will be involved okay that's some so so that is important to know um you know educator evaluation I can't remember whether it's in there but another consideration is we've we've had uh resource issues trying to yeah you know adopt expand that program to so it links back to it's
063in there Resource Management to 100% yeah good that's great so um educator evaluation obviously Mike is is has talked to you about the process we're undertaking right now we started back in in our admin Retreat and talking through exactly what um we are looking for uh and emphasizing um from my perspective where are principles and Deans and anyone who is part of the evaluation process as an evaluator um you know the things we're asking them to do that being said we are also um Mike will be working with um I don't know if Kristen Kristen Scully um who was the union president on years ago we we sat down and talked about the edal and we talked about higher level things that we should be looking for um and we identified key indicators and so
064it's been since yeah 201 probably 14 13 14 since we did that with the Union uh so we're do undertaking that now um which is is fantastic the learning walks are great uh when when you get a you know an elementary principal coming to the high school high school going to Elementary and to see and and we're looking for the same thing maybe it's student engagement uh right what does it look like at that level um because it can look the same actually believe it or not in terms of the lesson planning uh you know it's done differently obviously with language but um goal five um this comes out of a conversation uh that I've been having here for a long time but also out of a conversation with um Michael Herbert um and he
065and I have had strategic conversations about where we headed with our facilities especially in the school system and because we recognize the fact that that our modular at the Warren school are now 15 years old uh or no 10 years old 10 years old first year well but they're older they they were already 5 years old before we bought them um but that being said conversations about do we want to are we interested in pway is this isolated school and there are very few and Sarah could probably tell you maybe two or three in the Commonwealth that have a separate building just for a preet it doesn't necessarily make sense in terms of our resources and how we approach things Sarah being also the specializ coordinator the early intervention evaluator but also a principal in
066a building it's way too much even with seven she's got 78 kids but she's out three or four days a week with early intervention and it's so it becomes you know a real challenge to evaluate all her staff in the building it becomes you know a challenge to manage the complexities of prek um are we looking to expand opportunities in in prek in this in this community we know there's a demand for it but or are we focused on looking at prek as a mandate from the state perspective and those are all questions that we're asking uh but the feasibility study is is what we did before we ended up in the Mendes project if you will um Michael and I were having conversations about does it make sense to to really do another in-depth
067uh um study of of the pway and the and the Warren school and is there an opportunity to to maybe combine the two schools so we have a prek through uh to school um so again it's it's I know how long this it needs to get started yeah and how long this will take um but it's worth having it that conversation I'm not ready to to throw the baby out with the bath water if you will with at pway I I have to better understand the entire Financial Obligations that we have currently at pitway but then how will that trans you know look like what will it look like in the next five years like do we need a new roof yes we know that do we need a boiler yeah we know that are
068there other you know Capital Improvements that that facility is going to need and if we're talking millions of dollars are we you know short-sighted and putting millions of dollars into the pitway when we might be able to right you know leverage that to increase warrant I'm getting way deep into the goal but the thoughts that I'm happy but even even with that so say we were to move that building is there it's a it's a community it's a town asset y yep I think we'd either need to still maintain it or do something you can't just let it go derel and and be and so so it's one of those things we have to look at from both both both those lenses of from a community perspective I don't think it's just oh we go
069here and we don't do anything with that you know we'd have to figure out what the opportunities are sure and from a school perspective the ADA requirements and the variety of things that again I think it's important to have that that feasibility study with a singular focus of looking at that prek through 2 model if you will that's the best so to go from there scenario for that yeah okay District district six goal six talks about communication we had this conversation this summer uh about what we want communication to look like uh when we were at the um summer Workshop um and the one thing that I did add uh in the last two days because I had a really good meeting with esmer about um you know increasing the presence uh in terms of
070our our social media presence but also um I'm I'm have always wanted more highlights of of students teachers faculty uh you know all staff about what's happening the goods happening uh in pushing that out now some of the things that we want for instance when she um created the um the launch the the um the article about the launch program at the 18 to 22 program right what we ship it off and we we push it to Metro West Daily News we push it to all these other media Outlets they then say well great thanks for giving it to us but they don't share they don't publicize it that's not on us it's sort of I want to make sure that you understand that we are doing those things and I will provide evidence of
071that we do those things we just don't get a choice if Metro doesn't want to publish it uh things of that nature but something else that has occurred in the past couple months is that our website our our website and our um mass communication tool called Blackboard that has been purchased by another company therefore we need to figure out and um migrate all of this information it's a different setup on the website than what board has uh it's called final site is the company that bought purchased them um so esmer is going to be pulled from her role significantly uh an Canton retired and from the IT department and and she really wasn't she just was the deao web person but esmer has really taken that role on and we have administrative assistants who can
072publish information but not to a level of of detail that we need and to ensure that these websites are ADA Compliant which they're required to be so she will be working with final site to ensure the migration from Blackboard to final site is not only appropriate but everything that is on the website has been triaged because we have stuff on there that doesn't belong on there anymore so she's going through every one of those um you know sites links Etc and she'll be working with final like that's probably a 20 to 30 hour job a week right now just doing that uh it's pretty significant a question this may be way out of the box but um is there a volunteer opportunity for any students to help with some of that verification some possibly um
073yeah it's something I can certainly bring up to her and I've asked our principles I think it was the first week of the year I said you need to go to your own website by the way for your school and go through the links yeah and say what's appropriate what's not what we've got in the athletic Pages for instance um we've got people listed who no longer work for us uh we've got teachers who no longer work for us so there's it's not just that component which yeah I certainly think we could have someone go through a site and document you know um what should be changed and what should be taken out the what is challenging is as was not um a website designer that's not her job that was not her job however
074because of who we are as a district um certain roles have to adapt and and evolve and right now that's one of the roles that we need her to do the IT person I'm sorry is infrastructure it's not you know Mike would say we want to hire another it person but it's for instructional technology in the future we don't have that either like we have so many software you know systems that we use that we don't have a a point person who understands all those systems and can teach and use that um with our faculty I was going to say with the web development piece since there we used to have a staff member that took on that role whether or not that was her expertise or that was that became part of her her
075job um and you know it's it's shifted to esmer but is this something I mean I have no idea how often these need to be up updated but is this something that could be outsourced is it a is it a job that can be you know potentially is it something that we should look at should we contract that out so esmer can have the time to focus on the other stuff that is on her plate as well and I don't know the answer but so we are tracking hours so that's that's one component too is we're tracking the time that she's spending currently outside of just the the migration of one to another how much time is she putting in on a weekly basis that results in uh changes to the website right these are
076and I don't want to get too deeply into the weeds with this but these are conversations we will be having from a budgetary perspective as well right but right now this has to get done we Blackboard is going away um and we need to ensure that this gets done um efficiently um timely and you know comprehensively we just have to uh and and she's got that expertise to do that now uh and that's what we'll be how long do you anticipate it'll take like is there a deadline where black boards off yeah we've got to have it done by the end of so beginning of the new school year so it'll be 2025 the possibility that this is going to take up her time for the entire year no okay no no it's just I'm
077just I just we are adding it in I just want you to know that all the stuff that that that we're put in here for key actions for her there you have to also understand that there's a component here because of losing this um contract with Blackboard I just don't want to lose sight of that it's going to be a significant time um that is well spent in my opinion to ensure that this is accurate information I guess my request would be is that we follow up on this relatively soon maybe within a couple months so that you can share with us if this is still taking up the the bulk of her time so that we can I don't know have a discussion it still needs to be done and I know that I'm
078not suggesting it come off of her um but just I I think it's important for us to have a conversation because of her time is going to be shifted I feel like this there have been a number of different things that have taken her um attention needed which needed to be away from some of the exactly the um the goal of bringing her position on and so I think it it's important to have an ongoing conversation to make sure that the the reason she was brought on we're still able to achieve that goal as well too and how do we best do that understanding that things need to take PR as as long as we keep it focused on the goal I don't want to get too much it's only phras it's only phrasing I
079don't want to get into micromanaging her time that's not our role um but you I don't think you meant that but the key actions and benchmarks that that we've got here yeah if those are not being met then that's on me right I mean that's the bottom line so myob job is to manage the the individual in terms of making sure that these things are being done right so uh and then the last one uh again this really does relate more to the um you know the curriculum instruction side with the mtss process um you know the open Architects and student competing dashboard we've talked a lot about and Mike and I had this conversation today uh about individual success plans for all students right um and we're get we will get there and I
080have no doubt we'll be there probably the next couple years um which is something I've been talking about for a long long time here uh that being said um you know Mike did you just want just briefly talk about that you know the dashboard yeah sure so um I've been working closely you know with open Architects to make sure that the portal that we have in our dashboards are really built to our exact specifications and what we are looking for and one of the things that they're doing for us right now is they're building what's called a student companion ultimately the student companion dashboard will be a way for us to track all interventions uh all accommodations and all specific resources that are provided for each one of our students um and that will follow
081them throughout their time in Ashland so one of the things that I'm I'm really looking forward to is how we can now incorporate our bcap and Decap accommodations for each one of our students so once this student companion is built they're current putting in the entire bcap and Decap that we developed over the course of the last few years with dropdown menus for each of the different accommodation areas during a during a student meeting um where we're determining whether or not a student needs to go into an intervention so you know for lack of a better term during an ntss style meeting now they can pull up this dashboard they can drop down put the plan in place into the dashboard uh put notes in there be able to have each student tracked um how
082how is it going how is there specific data that is associated with these different accommodations that have been provided and that will again follow a student year to year ultimately this is what we'll be utilizing for our issps um because every every student is represented on the dashboard if you if you take a look at the you know um the other dashboards that we have we have all student data throughout so this will also include all that information as well so it's it's something that's going to take some time uh it's going to involve some specific training for our um Administration and then for our teachers as well um and this this is also a work that's continued from the work that has been started at uh Warren with the S3 team that was that
083was brought in um by that Grant and uh it's something that has been done in menen Upton who you know is a partner District of our and they've had some success so we we have uh you know some folks that we can talk to as well to help us with any challenges that we may have but I'm I was given the uh a little bit of a test run the other day about some of the things that they've already implemented for us it looks good so far but it's in their you know their internal review process right now but um I was hopeful that we would be um you know up and running by early November I'm not sure if that's what it's going to be but it's we're going to be really close so
084it's it's it looks good so far and I'm excited to bring it to everybody ni excellent so those are the seven and I have no problem keeping all seven on I'm just you know can I ask one more question and go back to communication for one second because this was something that I gave Jim some feedback on and one of the things that I had a question for and I'm curious what other people think is whether or not um there's value in doing additional surveys um and not knowing how how esmer is is pulled for the website not pulled but how her time is being taken up for the website whether or not that's something I'm just curious as to other people's opinions and with in the intention of not um spreading asmer or you
085too thin in terms of the deliverables um you know surveys about communication or surveys about top yeah no survey to the community to determine if communication needs are being met and what's most important I think I don't know I I'm some of some of the goals that we've had like people don't even know what they're missing if they haven't seen it yet you know what I mean that to like highlight students and teachers and things like that like I think we need to get a good handle on getting some of that stuff out and then maybe gather some feedback about what's working and not working I think otherwise then we get things about oh I'm not hearing from my teacher enough or you know all these things that we've kind of been spinning in the
086air for years and years and we finally got a person on board to kind of um streamline some of these things but we have all these other things that are coming up I mean I personally would like to see us push out the things that we intended on pushing out before getting more feedback which is probably just going to be more of the same feedback that we've already received in the past that's my feeling yeah yeah I I guess I I sort of start my answer the way Lori did not sure which right my my gut instinct on it is that when when we've done surveys in the past quite frankly we get fairly decent marks in terms of communication even though I think as a group in this room we've questioned sort of why
087things certain things aren't happening or or why we can't do better on certain things right now we that's not say we haven't made progress over time at all um but it does kind of leave me in a similar spot to where Lori is like let's let's see this stuff happen first let's get closer to where we all wanted to be and and maybe that's going to shift too um and then see whether people are responding positively to it so I I think between that and my just general reaction of I'd rather keep the goal simple and and keep our input around the goal rather than the my computer died so keytion yeah the key actions and benchmarks I'd rather kind of stay away from getting into that unless there's something that people felt really strong
088about um so my inclination did maybe it should be stated in the goal and but I I personally I mean I'm glad I know you were the one who raised this um as another goal I'm glad you did because I think um our goals should reflect our to some Paul's comments are they should be respect respect reflecting excuse me what we're trying to do what's important and I think this is a place where we have been talking about this and pushing on this in different forms for a while and what's identified in this draft goal is something that I think we envisioned a couple of years ago and has yet to come to fruition so I I'm glad we're we're adopting it as a goal but i' probably get that's fair I guess my feedback
089is if something needs to go I think the surveys is it would be a fine thing to go but we're not get into those weeds that's just my thought yeah we don't need to get into those weeds but I guess yeah no I I kind of just pick back on that I think that the goals we've always set are I think your point things that they don't know they're missing yet and so relative to the goals I don't think a survey would help unless you said hey we wanted to give you these um but I also want to make sure when we send out surveys they have enough meat on the bone um but that doesn't mean that if if you know I don't know if we have something like there's can there be a
090how we doing you know button on these things and and get the get that little bit of feedback that you you might you might be if it's only you know a couple of points maybe there's something like how we doing that we could do that isn't like a broadcast survey because you want to be careful how many times you do that as well right right um so I think there there might be a way to you know might be a way to get some kind of feedback you know if you will I mean I know they have the click we have feedback on tracking how many people read and all the other things but U right and there's so many different like levels of communication like how they're feeling about the classroom you know how
091they're feeling about the newsletters which are fantastic like they have been streamlined and they're going out every week and they they're consistent and and that's great and hopefully people are noticing you know there's so many different I think it just might bring a lot of information to us that isn't going to change the scope of what we're trying to focus on yeah right now but at some point after we get some of that there's nothing I mean if there's ever a specific need for it or we're better placed in March which I'm going ask that happened so so Jim are you so are you good all them with the seven or are you were you looking to I am fine have something fall off I mean it's that's all stuff that's happening it's just a
092matter of whether we bring it to the focus we're yeah so I I move to approve the superintendent's goals as presented second all in favor hi hi thank you okay guys so next up are the resolutions Marcy for your benefit you probably figured this out already but and I know you can't attend the conference neither can I um at the conference every year there's a meeting of um whoever can attend from all the different communities that attend the conference and we vote um as a committee on these resolutions so we have to have a meeting to get ourselves on the same page about how the committee is voting on these resolutions and if a representative can go that person goes on that day and votes um the way the committee U Wishes the question is
093um whether before we delve into and there are quite a few things on the resolutions this year um and some of them are big big deals but um do we even have somebody who is available to do this Mark is often working during the conference I think you're are you teaching this time as well yeah I'm doing it but I think this is on Friday afternoon now I think that's instead of Saturday like it has been yeah I think so I think they didn't get great attendance on the Saturday thing so I think it's Friday afternoon I don't intend to to stay that long yeah personally um my intention is probably to come back early afternoon on Friday so you know I think when we talked with Jim about setting the agenda what we were
094talking about is tonight let's just find out if anybody wants to participate is available to participate because if not then we don't even need to talk about the resolutions right right like typically you know we've we've been out of there by early Friday morning there's no more classes right that day so there's you'd be whoever does it would be hanging around for this purpose if there's something I want to I want to want to verify that I'm correct on what the agenda looks like for the conference but you can try to look it up but you up okay so I would think it I think it would boil down to you know Paul or Tina if you were still planning on I'm not a to be there you're not going to be there okay I'll
095be there for the rest of it but I won't be able to be there not it all right so that's it's not worth just make sure make sure that it's on Friday yeah so let's see under the events appear I think yeah that's this page so I'm try to is it yeah here we go yeah just this in the mail yeah right so Friday it's the delegate assembly right doesn't look like anyone's gonna go yeah uh delegate registration Del assembly yeah it's 3:15 um so it doesn't look like or it doesn't anybody's going to be there at that point okay so it's it's because we don't have a representative it's not um it's not worth going down the rabbit hole of the conversation I know there are some things on um the agenda that relate
096to you know some topics that are um important and that are concerns for all of us but if we're not sending a delegate then there's no point in having the conversation here right now whever I'm stop sharing with all right next clubs and activities uh so we have a debate club uh we've had a debate Club at the high school in years excuse me in years past uh they've just uh restarted up or they've started up again um and it was under originally under the JSA is what was in the junior state affairs um and what they're looking to do is just have their checking account what happened is the the club eventually dissolved uh for the last few years so the money then goes into the activity account of the high school itself uh
097so what Kelly's asking to do is have that checking account open back up or that activity account open back up again okay you have a motion for that are there any funds being seated into it or I I that I don't believe so Paul but um when when she and I spoke about about it she did not mention that but there could be funding that was left over well that's and that and I don't I'd have to go back when it dissolved if there was x amount is is it being seated with x amount again back from let see if it's on here high school it's not on there yeah so not not that that's our necessarily our purview within those accounts we typically so yeah they have not started yeah so this is Rec
098this is to set up the account correct okay y y and then there's also one for the class of 2028 attached to it as well too so I just where was that it's on page two she didn't tell me that we just talked about JSA okay just want to make sure if we make a motion we recognize but what's included in it as well yep okay yep establish the club or re establish the the account the activity account and 2028 is obviously new because it's fresh and class okay yeah so I believe the club was like no there was no attendance no meetings nothing like that and so uh a couple of my friends actually got together and we're like okay we should start a new Debate Club so I actually served as the treasurer
099for that last year um and this year I'm the student representative but again we didn't have any funds so it wasn't I was Treasure but really it was Treasure of nothing exactly bookkeeping right there it was just club for our friends just hanging out but this year here we're grown to around 50 oh wow and yeah so in the Google Classroom actually I'll pull it up um we have I love this live gonna say that's live feedback we 46 students in the Google Classroom wow great that's fantastic um we just had a bake sale as well so if this now they will have fun are you still the treasure uh no I'm student representative okay excellent I'm thrill that you guys did that because I think there are a handful of clubs and activities that
100probably fell off because of covid and then it's taken a while so I'm thrilled to know that you guys are jumping back in with those thank you so so Jim I think we can go forward just the the agenda item is it's really Vue really vague okay um so Ian I think I'm comfortable going forward but we should actually as we continue in the future yeah say Hey you know them out list them out but also just say hey we're talking about you know you know create creating Student Activity account right even if we didn't list them if we know them we should probably list them but it could be that you get them you know hey it might be two or three or whatever but but just clubs and activities is pretty big yep
101and when we do the motion uh remember we uh also should authorize the principal to expend the fund yeah you know you want to make the motion no but I guess you talk you're hired all right uh I move to approve the creation of the St two Student Activity accounts as presented and to authorize uh the building principal to uh manage the funds and accounts and the two clubs that are presented are uh Debate Club and a class of 2028 I'll second the motion all in favor I I excellent okay all right consent agenda move to approve the consent agenda second all in favor I hi I like that that's nice the things that we could just take a look at see if we're all good with oh my God that was like therapy well
102you do need some help we made one good change on the agenda there you just figuring that out I didn't know this okay um School Committee Member reports AB I know we already heard from you earlier but if you have anything else that you want to share at this time what you've been up to uh not particularly so we did have a meeting with Miss S as you mentioned yesterday during Xbox so I don't know if you guys all know what Xbox is it's just yeah so we we met there and all our members were able to attend um but unfortunately we didn't have everyone here for this meeting um but yeah I think we mentioned pretty much everything I just again wanted to say the Chromebooks came in um didn't but um other than
103that it's started a good school year awesome good yeah it's rolling right along Marcy I don't have anything Tina Jim already shared the update I was going to share on the lighting the way award so it was great I was glad I was able to be there last night uh I attended Fall Fest uh uh over the weekend and so uh that's a great event uh thank you Jamie trip and and Tim McKay for putting that on it's uh it's a fundraiser for uh some of our uh town and school teams and it's also just great Community event uh so we need more of those things uh I also uh recently attended the services for Roy CA um he recently passed away after Battle of cancer for those who don't know him he was he
104worked with DPW uh we worked with them closely on the Mendes project and and obviously Jim and and Mike work with them regularly in the past uh with snow days and everything like that and and it's just uh you know sad because he was he's a really good great guy and so uh it's unfortunate but thoughts and prayers with his family and friends so thanks Paul um I I just have one item I was um today we had the first site council meeting at the high school um this afternoon um they had a big crowd of people uh which is great I mean there probably 20 people around the table four students a number of parents um the same staff members who' been involved historically but um seem like a good group and and Kelly
105spent some time just talking about the things that they've been working on last year and and some of the things that they'll carry forward um two consistent themes that we've heard tonight one is um cell phone policy consistency seems to be fairly well received um and then the other one was talking about clubs and that there seems to be a significant increase in the number of clubs but really small numbers of kids in each and they kind of pop up when a group is interested and then fade away when the couple of kids that were really interested were kind of graduate or lose interest or whatever um so there was some discussion about you know what what can they do with that and the idea one of the comment that was made was you know
106maybe what we actually need is fewer clubs so that more kids together and kind of building more camaraderie and school spirit because you have larger congregations of people rather than three people over here doing this and three people over there doing that um but it was just kind of a a conversation um kind of came came out of came know excuse me organically um but I thought that was interesting feedback and the other thing um Kelly highlighted was know she anticipates continue to work on the the grading um issue and and didn't get into substantive discussions but sort of whether we continue with weighted grading or not um is an ongoing conversation but she's very clear people like just exploration you know and people shouldn't necessarily think because we're talking about it that A change
107is going to come about and um so we'll see where that goes um I attended the wellness subcommittee meeting yesterday um last year really the whole year was consumed with with writing these policies that we've been reviewing lately they did an excellent job it was a lot of work and it pretty much took the whole year of meetings um and now that they're done um there can be some more focus on just more of the um the details about wellness and how it can fit into our curriculum and and other areas of what we do um and get more creative about um sharing that out with with the buildings and the staff um I I will share just in light of what you were saying earlier Jim about the challenges of getting people to go
108into education and stay in education and rise up through the ranks um there is somebody on the wellness committee that um Works in another town after having worked in Ashlin and they were saying um in the committee meeting about how like great it was to work here and now seeing um what it's like in in other places you know just I mean and not to toot our own Hornet just if if we're having trouble here because we get that a lot people comment on that we function well as a committee um and the administrative team is so strong and great and we have all these great collaborations in town and you know if we're struggling in those areas and and we're considered you know by others who have now other things to compare it to
109um you know it's a great environment and we still can't get that going then that that's that's a real problem yeah sure is uh but anyhow um it was certainly nice to hear the good feedback on on what we do here in town um and that's it for me yeah any else motion no it's time good motion to adj yes second all in favor I thank you everybody