School Committee - Meeting Wednesday, February 14, 2024 LIVE 6pm

001two one and we are live good evening this is the ashin school committee meeting for February 14th 2024 Happy Valentine's Day we start by reading our vision statement which is the ashon public schools is a Forward Thinking District that cultivates the academic and social emotional growth of each student through a supportive collaborative Innovative and challenging environment students will develop into self-motivated resilient lifelong Learners who Embrace their role as a respon as responsible contributors to a global Community this meeting is being recorded by waca cable TV um as our normal um procedures we review the agenda and adoption but before I do that I want to welcome our newest member Marcy culverwell to the the school committee U Marcy stepped forward and been appointed to to fill out the remainder of um this year um for

002the seat that had been occupied by Aaron Williams and after Aon stepped down and uh we welcome you and look forward to your contributions so um let me move to the review of the agenda and adoption and after that I'll just um because we have one member who is virtual of us each time as being present and approving the agenda the first item will be public comment uh second item will be student advisory Council we then have administrative items of the Karen Karen spila Grant approval uh that Jen Cutler I think will be speaking to an overnight travel proposal from girls acros for May of this year a calendar survey results in the school calendar for 2425 school year excuse me uh the Strategic plan that we've been working on will be update and approval

003we have an assistant superintendent's update a superintendent update warrant approvals then we have uh some minutes to approve gifts and donations then um member updates and any action items and then we will have an executive session um to talk about collective bargaining strategy so let me just start by asking everybody to identify themselves as as being uh present or not which would be a neat trick or uh and that indicate whether you are in agreement with the agenda let me start with Lori who is virtual Lori yes hearing yes thank you thank you Marcy just push the button Marcy cwell and I'm here all right yes I'm good with it all right thanks Paul all right um so our uh first item on the agenda is public comment and uh for anybody who is participating

004virtually can you if you wish to make a public comment please raise your hand with a little icon um and we will acknowledge you and ask you to to um make your comment if there's anybody here in the audience live have three people watching um who wants is here to make a public comment please come forward to the podium okay seeing nobody coming forward and see seeing nobody on screen that's looking to speak we'll move on to our um next item which is the presentation student advisory Council and we have two students here if you guys could come to the uh the podium and introduce yourselves and then we' love to hear from you excuse me uh I'm rug Ron I'm a senior at Ashland high school and I'm Emily I'm also a senior at

005Ashland high school thank you so the first thing I'll discuss today is uh midterm so from January 23rd to the um students at AHS had their midterms the midterm exams were appropriate appropriately waited as they had been for the past few years and um the teachers gave ample time and resources uh to help students study for the midterms EXC um and the wrestling team or for athletics the wrestling team won their sectionals this past Saturday for the third time and they're off to win a state championship this weekend at Wakefield High School and the last thing I'll discuss is that this week the Freshman sophomores and Junior Juniors have been having class meetings to discuss classes for next year and um in the classrooms the teachers have been placing recommendations for students to take uh

006for the next year and the new business classes they've been successful so these were implemented in AHS this year uh Mr Kaden head he's been teaching them really well um and yeah so uh they they've also had xblocks to uh learn about potential uh electives they can take next year related to financial literacy and business thank you uh so two weeks ago we had our Flag Day ceremony which was a cultural celebration put on by the cares team uh we had over 30 students and staff participate in the ceremony um where they paraded their country's flag and shared a little bit about their culture um and as part of the celebration the nutrition staff has made some cultural meals throughout the month such as food from India and Great Britain which was pretty cool and

007then um in April the student council will be putting on their annual Bingo night which is open to the whole Community um and there's going to be prizes from local businesses in restaurants and that's on Thursday April 4th and then last the schore plays coming up in a few weeks um they're going to be putting on Chicago on the 1st and 2nd of March at 700 p.m. and then the 3D at 2 p.m. great thank you does anybody have any questions for our students what was your favorite food in uh that you had as part of that cultural f um I think the bangers and mask was pretty good what about you um I would say the the pizza Italy Thursday yeah Thursday but that Thursday it also happened to be uh Italy's day so

008pizza was the special so you double down on Pizza yeah right Lori did you have anything here thanks Mark no just thank you guys um I wish I was there to eat those yummy things with you all right thanks thanks very much and and certainly you know you're you're free to take off we know you've got lots of studying to do thank thank you for coming in okay and you guys are going to keep me honest in case I skip over things which I tend to do um administrative items the first one is Karen spilla Grant approval and Jen Cutler hi Jen how are you I'm good how are you good so do you have a presentation or something you'd like to make on this um I don't have a presentation but I can just

009um introduce uh what what the grant is and um some of the things that we are going to be using it for if that makes sense yeah please okay so um we are extremely lucky to again um have uh Senate President spila ear Mark a specific amount of money um towards the mental health of our students um this year we um had a very generous earmark of $100,000 um so we are some of the um major things that we're going to use this for um last year we used it towards starting a partnership with cartwheel care um which provides teletherapy to our students and uh parent support um as well as mental health webinars that our staff and families can access this has been a really successful partnership we were going to see how it

010went this year to see if we wanted to continue and if we could continue as it is quite expensive um but thanks to um this earmark we are able to continue and we have had such wonderful feedback from our students who have who have accessed to Tele theapy from their families and from our um counselors and psychologists who have been referring our students so this is definitely a partnership that we would love to continue and thanks to this um funding we will be able to continue so that's one of our major um things that we're going to continue um something new that we're going to be able to add is um a referral Network work to be able to refer not only our students um and our students families and their family members but also

011our staff and our staff our staff members family members um it's called car Solace and they are able to refer fam all of these people to outpatient therapy but also higher levels of mental health care so um inpatient um mental health care which most referral networks you know don't do so it's an actual referral Network where um our our counselors or psychologists would refer the the person and then um the referral Network would actually take you through the whole process as a family um and help find a match for you whether it's a outpatient therapist or it's a um you know inpatient um Day Day program or an actual inpatient setting um so um this is another really great um uh service that we're going to be able to to offer to our students staff

012and everyone's family members um we're actually going to be starting this in March and going through next June um the other major thing that I think um that I've already we're already going to be piloting after February break um and we've gotten a lot of excitement um from our staff is we're going to be using a trauma informed um teaching approach um that I just got trained in as a trainer and and um our goal is to train all of our prek to 12 staff um and thanks again to all of this money we are going to be able to do this um this also allows us to provide professional development for all of our school counseling staff um for example um our counseling staff really enjoy going to the Massachusetts School counseling Association um

013conference Every Spring um and this allows them to do that has very um good professional development that's specifically targeted to them and what they do um just this evening I got a email from Mary Beth Gant who is the librarian at the high school and she actually had an excellent idea I think she saw um what I was presenting about um in the school committee agenda and she said you know if there's money I think it would be great to allocate some of it to provide expanding the mental health fiction and non-fiction offerings at our libraries throughout the district and I wrote it right back and said I think that's fantastic there definitely will be money for that so I'm definitely going to allocate some to that um and I think it's a great idea

014um so we will there will be also be money for things things like that throughout the district um questions yes so any questions Marcy Paul Lori Jen this is great is it a one-ear a one-year Grant or it is so um and actually we have to use the money by June okay by by June 30th of this year um so uh and we did have it last year as well okay um so I do an anticipate that you know um uh president uh spoka is very generous um to us and to her other um districts um and so you know we may get another earmark in another year um but yes right now this is a one-ear year mark great thank you hey so so Jen one of the things I was going to ask

015is this is our second year with it right uh second year with with with the Grant I think was 75 last year or something like that was it it was yep uh and so you talked about uh professional development are we going to be able to do that PD this year or because I mean obviously PD time is is a precious uh precious commodity that is already stretched uh and we want to do we we already want to do more than than we have time for and and are we going to be able to do that uh or is it a multi-year uh approach to getting that the the teachers trained yep so it's definitely a multi-year approach but the nice thing about it Paul is that I already used the funds to become a

016trainer so now that I am a trainer I don't have to and and we'll probably get a couple other people trained this year with the funding so um now we will be able to train our staff which I always think is a better approach so that we don't have to keep going out and getting you know and having someone paying to to have other people train our staff um so um so this year um on our May and Mar or sorry our March and may half days I will be training our Warren staff um and uh then probably we'll be doing um Mendes in prek I'm assuming probably in August of next year um and then we don't have dates for middle school yet but um but yeah it's definitely a multiyear approach okay and

017and these programs sound great and uh we know that state funding and these grants aren't necessarily a sure thing for Perpetual so um have you given thought to if we if we had to try to seek other funding uh and and the was limited you know what what those options would be and and and could we it sounds like we're going to these things are really great and we almost would have develop a dependency on them you know we lived without them before but sounds like living without them once we have them is would be would be more difficult so uh yeah you know just thoughts thoughts on sustainability for something that sounds not just a nice to have but something that you know sounds like we might be pretty you know dependent on and

018and would would be a significant loss if we didn't get the funding right so something like cartwheel care where you know it's the teletherapy that I think that is something that is really going to become important to our district and and has really um shown that it's extremely helpful especially to our um growing population um that does not speak English because they have um uh many clinicians who speak many different languages um uh I think I consider that one of those services that you were talking about Paul so um that that this year I was going to if we didn't have this earmark which I didn't know we were going to have um I was going to propose that we fold that into our budget that was going to be one of those items that

019I asked um and I talked to Mr Adam about that that I asked that you know I really think this is important and I really would would like to um propose that we put it into our budget so you know that that would be the type of thing that I would want to put put in um in the future if we did not have um grant funding for it I think it's that important to our population yeah that that that's perfect that's exactly what I was talking about is thinking and having those conversations about hey what what really we couldn't live without if we needed to either fold it into the budget find alternative methods um and things like that but it sounds like you're already thinking about it in that way and prioritizing it

020and having those conversations so that's perfect and just to the sort of same point Jen um just on the the two things that seem like they would be ongoing services that we'd want to maintain um as opposed to like the Train the trainer thing which obviously more people can get trained great but um what is what's the sort of estimated annual cost on the cartwheel and car Solace programs so the cartwheel I'm just I'm just thinking about from if we were folding it into the budget you know what's the ballpark that we'd have to worry about um so I think the car Solace was about 14,000 um a year actually that's not even a year that's for 15 months um and then cartwheel care is about 28,000 a year so not not a huge knot

021in the scheme of the budget okay thank you yeah um Lori did you have anything no okay so I think we we need a motion to approve the grant yes I I mean I move we uh accept the the uh the grant as uh presented is there a second second we'll do roll call just because Lor's are remote Lori yes Marcy I Paul yes Mark I as well thank you and and certainly um if there's a means by way we can get a a thank you out to Senator spilka sen president spila I think that would be a great thing to do because she's done many things to uh support our community obviously as well as the schools specifically thank you Jen thank you so much uh next item on the agenda is overnight travel

022proposal girls across May 4th and 5th so I Mark I'll speak to that quickly I think it's important that uh coach blazy as we've done with our basketball program as well have the coach come and and explain what the purpose of the trip is uh I'm totally in favor of the trip uh I've looked at it extensively there is somebody in the room Jim who might be able to speak to this oh is there what's your name Katy Katy bazy oh she is there I didn't see the thanks sorry Katie no one told me you were there I was gonna propose waiting until you came now even her jacket say coach Kat okay why don't you introduce yourself on the microphone just for everybody else watching hi so um I'm Katie blasy the varsity girls

023lacrosse coach welcome thanks for coming um yeah so just the trip um we're are playing a game on Nantucket on Sunday May 5th um so we're proposing to go the day before to hyanis um where we can have some team bonding activities team dinner spend the night there and then take the ferry on Sunday morning for both the varsity and the JV uh girls to play at Nantucket and then come home Sunday night okay great and Jim was there anything you wanted to add to that I kind of cut you off a little there no again I'm not in the room so I couldn't tell she was there so I apologize that's okay yeah we're having we're having an interesting technology night tonight um and and so can you talk a little bit about the

024team building type of stuff that you you hope to do and what your goals are with that yeah I mean it's more to give them a good experience together um we haven't exactly figured out exactly what we're going to do but we were thinking of like going down to the beach and playing some kind of like Olympic games um different different things just together um non lacrosse related just to kind of work together um kind of come together as a team kind of different Partnerships and pairs than you might have on the field just so everyone can um you know Bond and become uh together as a team and this would be both JV and varsity so it's kind of a way for the whole program to come together how many kids is that all

025together we are expecting about 4 this year okay great anybody else have any questions for Coach Katie uh not for you I mean uh is it is it a bus uh uh bus down there and then then a fair it says yes we would um take a bus to hyenas um the hotel that we have reserved um is right next to the ferry so we can take the ferry and we don't need any transportation in hyenas um then the ferry back we haven't figured out the way home there are several parents going so it's you need to kind of see how many parents are going if we can get home that way or if we need to rent a bus but okay now so uh I'm assuming that'll be done uh in Far Enough advance

026that that Kelly and and Jim will be will be comfortable with that yes um Jim and and and Chris just a question so it says that it's $100 a student uh and it's being funded through the clocker club yeah so our sub account right now has about $4,600 and based on our um estimations for the hotel the ferry um meals it would be under $4,000 in total so we can fund that from our account okay so from your from our sub account yeah so okay so from not from a from a clocker club correct okay so maybe update that update on the form because my question was going to be if if it's from the clocker club we probably have to accept those funds then if it's going going to be expended this way right

027well I think that's what she please correct me if I'm wrong when you say sub account you mean sub account from the clocker clock yes each sport has their own sub account within the clocker club so all of our fundraising dollars go into that sub account sorry just to clarify so so I think what you meant by clocker Club so it probably would need to accept it right because it is coming from a sub account from this uh from from from from a from a nonprofit yeah so so it's an external funding source so uh that we can handle that separately but would need to accept that uh those funds then yeah yeah I'm not sure we been we could probably do that by working with with my office so if you want to send

028myself an email um we can get it on a a gift and donations after or something to that yeah and and Mark Mark's point you know we probably just need to be more clear on because I think we've probably done this in the past and not accepted but uh but because same thing we do for any of the um AFI grants or things like that there when they come into the and expended for the district we just need to accept it so nothing you need to worry about it was more a question because I saw that it was uh so it's good that have said clocker Club as opposed to just a sub account because we do have Club accounts that are within the district and so the funds that come in there we don't

029need you know there they're they're fund if they're fundraising and different things they get in there differently but um so so Jim I just had one question for you about the transportation back issue um I'm assuming not but do we have any policies that we have to be worried about in terms of parent Transportation issues or things like that if that's the way we end up no no okay yeah so so so Jim that's my only concern is that that that's not ironed out but as long as that's ironed out in in enough time where you and Kelly are comfortable with it that's yeah and I think once the season begins ktie will have that squared away for sure yes okay do you want to make a motion are you okay proving as is or

030you want to make it contingent in some way uh I mean I'll make the motion and say that this contingent on on you know that deter you know determining that to the satisfaction of the uh principal and super um so I I would I would approve the um overnight travel for the uh rolls cost teams uh as presented uh pending the uh resolution of the travel back as uh approved by the uh superintendent or Andor uh principal is there a second second okay any further discussion since I I skipped over Lori Lori anything you want to ask or chime in on I'm good okay thanks um so calling for the vote Lori I and Marcy I Paul I and I for me as well thank you thank you very much have a good time thanks

031ktie sorry I wasn't there I didn't see you all right next item on the agenda is calendar survey results school year calendar 2425 school year as you know we do not have a calendar set yet for 20 uh 425 School uh year and uh typically we have this done in November but as we've experienced over the past couple of years um with our commitment to honor the diversity within our district uh I want to make sure that that we had a survey sent out to the community to see where folks uh were you know what their thought process was with regard to the calendar and our our dates and I want to be clear we we will go back to the when we start which is that week before Labor Day obviously this year was

032an anomaly because of uh the Mendes project but I want to share some of the survey results and then obviously get feedback from the committee and hopefully get a vote on what our calendar will look like so we can publish that I know families have been uh asking about that um routinely they're calling my office saying when are we going to get a calendar so hopefully we can get that uh rectified tonight so I'm going to just share my screen here um um and hopefully this is nope that's the wrong one sorry too many things here open okay can you see this okay yep thank you okay great uh so just briefly um you know the purpose was we we had a calendar survey back in 2019 um we have state mandated uh holidays of

03312 uh we have 180 school days that are required a minimum of 900 instructional hours for our elementary students and 990 for our secondary students so I think that's a frame of reference that we all need to keep in mind uh and then then we also build in five snow days uh and I apologize for yesterday's snow day which shouldn't have happened it's only because you're we'll get that out of the way uh key audiences obviously our faculty staff our students uh parents and caregivers and our community members uh weighed in and we felt it was important that that our community members have an opportunity to weigh in as well uh even though they may not necessarily be um impacted directly uh when days of of uh when days are observed for holidays um religious

034holidays but um you know certainly we are an entire community so we sent the survey out we had three languages uh got 973 responses um it was Anonymous um so there could be folks taking several um opportunities to to respond um they could skip questions and this is just a breakdown uh about 77% of the response of the 973 were caregivers or parents um with smaller percentages obviously um for employees and students and and a few um community members so what I what I felt was important that we present tonight was what were folks thinking uh what were the questions we asked um we talked about exemptions uh from homework or time off for school for religious observances and holidays uh and how how people felt uh about that um and the same question was

035asked uh of all parents Guardians staff faculty students Etc and at this point um 79% of the of the folks responding um said there was no need for an exemption or they they needed an exemption uh or time off from school or any religious holiday the answer was no they didn't um however you we're going to get into um policy concerns and questions that folks had uh when holidays are observed but the religions represented without within the the survey uh as you can see we we have a a pretty diverse Community um with the majority of the folks the Catholic Christians um outweighing everyone in terms of the responses so the question asked was um below is a list of some religious or cultural observances which are on the left hand side you can see

036for any of the observances that you apply to that apply to you please indicate the related impact on School attendance uh and only for the holidays that apply specifically um so for Dali so for instance of the respondents for um you know dwali just over 50% said no school is needed as an exemption right they they they want to observe that day um whereas the majority of them are also saying of the folks responding close to 80% there needs to be some flexible homework policy regarding this and and you'll notice this um is pretty consistent with um all of the respondents right um whether they believe they should have a full day off a no school day or an early release there needs to be some sort of thought process regarding accommodations for homework and

037homework um testing Etc and what I was trying to get to was obviously we have limited time within the school year and how are folks thinking we need to fit this 100 these 180 days in add in the five um snow days but then factor into the account the state uh mandated holidays uh and what does that do and what does that look like in our calendar especially if we're observing and not only recognizing religious holidays but taking those days off when they fall within the calendar not every year do the days fall within the calendar where it impacts a school day um and as you can see you know in terms of the colors uh maximizing continuity of learning in time was what was most important to folks um of the question that here

038was asked in terms of um honoring diversity maximizing continuity and securing the earliest possible last day of school um can I just ask a question on that Jim and if the survey dove into this but um are you able to correlate anything in this chart you've got up there now about the calendar priorities to the responses that we received about should school be closed or not closed and how how should we observe things it's what I'm I'm I'm trying to get to is if if they're 20% of the people that say I need something how many of them are they still saying but it's more important for us to have continuity or are they saying something different yeah Mark we I I couldn't disaggregate that data okay um it's a great question we had we

039actually as we presented this Within um admin team meeting as well that that question was brought up um uh and and we were trying to actually even break it down even further based on um you know how people responded to their what religious observance they were referring to as well um we'd have to dig a lot more deeply into every single question and every response um but that being said here's how things uh did shake out um um in terms of the calendar preference uh and there were four major pieces of this so folks were asked do you want to maintain the non-mandated holidays included in the current calendar meaning uh are we going to recognize those days on the calendar and observe them as days off when they fall within the school week or

040to reduce the non-m dated holidays so what does that mean reduce right do we recognize one um major holiday per religion uh if it falls within the and and how do we determine what that might look like how do we um select the day to observe within um the school calendar when it falls during a school week um three eliminate all non-mandated holidays uh and four add non non-mandated holidays that are not currently in our calendar so increase the number of days if you will uh that are observed uh in terms of days off if they fall within the school week uh you'll notice that about 29% said hey we need maintain the current calendar as is 31 a half% said well let's think about reducing it uh no real uh answers as to what

041that means or looks like and about 37% said eliminate uh so it left about leaves 3% um or if you add that with maintain uh honestly you get about 32% uh folks are saying you know maintain an ad um are pretty similar in my mind um you kind of to the prior point you you'd expect there to be some correlation between those that said eliminate and those that said continuity of education is correct the highest you would think there's a correlation and and again I didn't dig more deeply into that to disaggregate that data but if you want to we can certainly we can try to see if we can pull it out um unfortunately when we're using Google uh forms and surveys it's not as simple as uh what we used to do with

042Survey Monkey um had a lot more flexibility in terms of pulling that data based on questions so you know we just want to share some of and I I don't want to read all these it gets kind of messy when we share this um but the things that folks really talked a lot about was that continuity of learning especially in the September uh through November time frame uh when we start school there's sometimes uh in in September we have three four five holidays uh that are recognized um and so that continuity of learning is really a challenge um but you know again folks were um concerned about child care U you know that comment Child Care is tricky for those families when the kids don't have school we certainly have numerous families who uh do

043need to find uh care when we celebrate uh observe uh and take those days off um the one piece a piece that's consistent um is that excusing absences is the far right hand corner at least on my screen uh not mandating homework and assessments um excuse absences with no homework um for people to celebrate non mined holidays so so there's this concern of how do we approach this if folks take the time off uh from a homework and testing perspective and I I want to be gentle with my response uh to a certain degree it's been a challenge when it even with our family reconnect weekends right where the there's a there's a sense uh and a perception and probably a reality where at least at the high school level students are burdened with more

044work than what they might have had uh traditionally within a week uh and there's this either front loading or backloading of of testing assessments homework that may um impact the students because we're celebrating uh and observing holidays during the day uh during the week if you will so I want to be you know cognizant of that uh I think we need to do a better job from a district-wide lens of making sure our Educators fully Embrace and um understand that the purpose isn't to front load and and or to backload testing assessments and um homework yeah I mean thanks for saying that Jim because that's one of the challenges with what whatever we if we want to try to address any of this is we can say whatever we want but if we don't do

045it with any kind of fidelity um because I can tell you with absolute certainty that some teachers just say okay I'll have it due on Tuesday but it's not one day's work right so it's still the same thing you were going to give for them to work over the weekend you're just going to say oh I'm not doing it's not do on Monday it's do on Tuesday but right that that's not you know and so we we do have that the particularly at the high school so no matter what we decide um to investigate that will be a concern is we we need to do it um so Jim do you have anything more on the slides yeah I got one more I think Mark I just want to just share um you know where

046we are in terms of the last days of school currently right um and and that's why you know school year 23 um these are the last two years before this year because again this year's an anomaly based on starting after Labor Day um but we also have I've I've you know looked past 2425 to 2526 in currently every one of in 25 26 school year every single one of the Hol holidays that we observe uh currently in our calendar actually falls on a school day uh in that 25 26 school year thus pushing the end date to June 27th uh with the five um potential snow days and where and to be clearth falls into play to be clear th this is 180th day not 185th on this slide right correct y yeah our mandated

047required days right thank you Paul so um summary based on those slides Last Thing Mark before I stopped sharing is the the majority of the respondents do not need an exemption or time off uh majority prefers to eliminate or reduce non-mandated H non-mandated holidays um and respondents suggest impling flexible accommodations uh excuse absences or floating holidays no homework nights flexible deadlines U Etc so that I mean that's a challenge right um is how do we how do we approach that and what I'm going to ask this committee to to think about first before we look at the options of the calendar you have to come to a conclusion first and foremost with regard to how are we going to observe religious holidays are we going to stick with uh what we currently are doing or

048are we going to modify that and before I can present one of two options for the school year uh 2425 just based on where that December January break is um that's the first first thing we have to know um so I'm going to open it up to you all to have that discussion before I present what the options of the calendars might look like okay thank you can I go first Mark yeah I was going to ask you Lor because it looks like you're in rout I'm I'm ready to talk I'm in rout and usually I'm to talk first no I have a strong opinion on this and I never get to talk first being chair I usually let everyone else give their opinion but um I I'm taking it advantage of this situation of

049being a you tearing so I get to talk um I I want to say that I will never vote to eliminate the Jewish holidays and any other holidays that we've already committed to and that's how strongly I feel about it but the only the only way that I guess I would is that if we really dug into this we heard from the clergy we heard from people who actually celebrate these holidays and not just the majority because we already know the majority is Christ and they and and my family is also Christian um and Jewish and full transparency um but they get their day on Christmas because it's a national holiday and that's because it's a majority and nobody would be in school on that day even if we insisted that they had to um

050the rest of us minorities um Jews being 0 2% now I don't know the number for everybody else but when those other folks came to us in the last few years um we knew all this information when we agreed to um respect their day off um it was important to them to have a day off I know how holy the Jewish holidays are and that those people are either not going to be in school on those days or they're going to be in school because they feel that they've been given an impossible choice because you know they're diligent students and they don't want to miss whatever's going on there regardless of whatever the homework policy polic is and all that other stuff so I feel very strongly um that we should leave things as they

051are uh one thing that I would consider is you know maybe just because of logistics and we've pretty much gone to the end of how long we can stay in school based on lots of different things the the heat during that time of year um contracts with the Union etc etc you know I'd be willing to say logistically that maybe we can't add anything else but um I am I you do not nobody has my vote to get rid of these holidays um I I don't think Tina feels as strongly about this is I actually I shouldn't speak I don't know how strongly she feels but I I know when I heard from her today that she wouldn't make the meeting and she can't vote tonight but her preference is to um continue recognizing um

052the holidays that we've agreed to recognize and uh you know if we she has an opportunity to speak for herself in the future I'll let her do that um but I feel very strongly that um out of respect and and again I've been a working parent I know how tricky it is to handle those days off um I also know that in September it never feels like we have a full week but I think respecting people and respecting our community and not just doing it by majority rules because in that situation we're not a community and we're not honoring the people who might be in the minority but need to have our respect on these issues um I I I think we it's very important maybe we knew some people say like some people have

053the day off and they don't even know why they're home well if that's true then maybe we need to do a better job educating people on why they're home so um I'm gonna let somebody else give their opinion now but um I will never be voting to get rid of those days well I shouldn't say never I I need to hear from more people all right thanks Lori Marcy we give you a nice softball topic for your first meeting oh I love the softball I I I did research um so I guess the first thing I'll say is good news in September there's no holidays other than Labor Day so you get to kick off with a good solid four weeks of school whether we keep the holidays or not um I looked at the

054other schools that were in the survey and hopkington and NAC are the only ones that put out their calendars they also are keeping all of the holidays and have a similar start and end date to the proposal so um you know I I feel strongly like Lori does and for a couple reasons one being there's 20% of people in the survey who said they need the day or an excused absence and particularly at the high school level now having a high school student those kids are going to go to school I mean they they are they're going to miss a whole day of um things that matter for school or they're going to miss for their family and it's just it's just a different it's a different workload at the high school so I feel

055it's not fair to penalize those students um or their families to have to make that choice especially where there's capacity in the calendar to complete the school year in June and start it um similarly to others and I think that you know one thing I was curious about when I looked at the survey was how many of the respond like did we break it down by school which unfortunately we didn't but either way I just feel like if I get the holiday offer Christmas and I don't have to make that choice but my neighbor has to make that choice I just don't I just don't think it's fair to families I totally understand the child care comment I have four children I I get it we're going to have you have to make that choice

056in June too if the school year ends early you're going to have to look for child care then so you know it's a it's a child care issue no matter which way you slice it so it's you know I'm not inclined to take them out of the calendar and you know I appreciate Jim very much you making the comment about holding people accountable for if we were to have excused absences or a homework policy or whatever that is because while all the good intentions are there I don't you know I'm just speaking from personal experience I don't think it's quite uh evidenced yet in practice the way that we all would like it to be not that we couldn't get there but I I would want to better understand exactly we'd be keeping people accountable

057um if we were to take something out thank you Paul yeah I mean I think I'm the candada the one who bring brings us up every year but I I don't I don't think it would be as far as your initial question Jim there it would be flippant and disrespectful to make any attempt any changes now right so uh I don't I don't see that as as an option however I I would like us to because we we kind of have the scab we pick every year and we don't do anything at least this year you put out the survey right and I take the surveys as a data point to say should we continue a conversation or have a more more you know uh comprehensive conversation about something and I'll I'll you know as

058far as days off I'll do you know correlate this to the survey you did related to changing our week-long vacations right you you put out a survey about that right and it was overwhelming 100% don't ever touch uh that survey told us unequivocally our teachers would strike everybody would be crazy at us if we had a different vacation schedule than everybody else in the state right so that survey that dat data point was meaningful to say full stop that's probably an nonstarter right because that was another thing we talked about in the past about why do we go on break go on another break and then go on another we have like these three breaks in in pretty uh quick succession and there's not really uh needs for it but to be consistent so this

059one uh I think it it's not enough data to make any kind of decision and I think it would be flippant and disrespectful to to make that so I'm in full agreement that as of tonight I think we need to look at our calendar in the two permutations you have that is maintain uh the current ones we we do we do uh have in the calendar that said I would like to regardless of the outcome of any of the conversations I would like to actually have a more comprehensive dialogue about this uh Lori brought up you know find out uh what you you know the different synagogues temples and and churches and that our community goes to uh talk to the talk to the you know the leaders and explain to them the considerations we

060all have and and and and what that means to to see because I I can't sit here to and say there's there's so many topics we can go and we can sit here at the table we can do our research and and we can act in the best interest of the people right uh because we do that here's I don't feel I can because I don't know uh enough about the particular situations and and and holidays and what they mean uh and the ways that the leaders in those groups do uh I would love for us to do that and have more comprehensive conversation about it because we make assumptions all the time about hey this is the way that people feel this is going to be honored and but and I'm not as flipping

061about the fact that my kids come home I'm like do you even know what day it is and they're like no okay so did we really did we really honor that is it and is it better that they were would be in school and we don't do anything new and again this goes back to I'll say this but I'll Circle back to until we can do something with Fidelity I would have pause in implementing it right uh but wouldn't it be better if they were in school learning why their classmates aren't there wouldn't that uh help produce that inclusion understanding empathy uh reduce potentially all all the different you know whether it be any sematic or or any other type of uh thing that we're actually educating them we're honoring them by teaching the kids

062and our students and staff uh why these things are important to them right uh because was it was it three years ago now when did we when did we add e fitter uh two years ago three and you know I I you know I'm not saying it's right or wrong to do it I think we did that kind of flippantly because it was a student that came and asked us right um we added it and that's great and and I I'm not saying we did anything wrong but uh what about the next one right we you know we we're reaching a capacity where yes the dates line up right so I want to be clear the the dates in that uh table that Jim had were the 180th days if we had five snow days

063the 185th day would be in the 20s because we we still have juneth and stuff in there right so now if we have a heatwave that it wouldn't be safe we can't really complete school you know so I don't know that we have much capacity in in in the calendar regardless of that says hey we're going to be on 25th at the latest I because you know depends on where the the uh you know the the next two days might be might be a weekend right so to me I I'd like to have more comprehensive it might come back saying leave it the way it is but then we've put it to bed and we're not having this conversation next year right we would come to here's our decision and here's why right not just

064because it's five people with uh uh particular opinion sitting around table not because it's a a survey that you know who knows the validity of the data right and I'm not questioning it but I also I can't hang my hat on that we got to everybody that as Jim said somebody who really felt a certain way didn't do it 20 times right uh and and and things like that so I'm in agreement that we can't do anything today uh with the holidays I I that would be totally disrespectful but I would like for us to have that more comprehensive dialogue about it uh and then come back and have the discussion uh with a better and more thoughtful approach to it because I don't think it's right that we would sit here and make a

065decision and not have engaged um the the the the leaders in those uh of th of those groups and and and those things so that that's that's kind of where I am at it and because I I see all the all the the the issues with it right and and we don't even talk about all the issues there's food security issues by taking that day off uh you know there's there's families that are like okay how's how's my child eating today right uh and and and those things and and and it's it's tough and and I totally get and agree that it shouldn't just be the majority because that's kind of what inclusion is about right it's you don't need to be the majority right and so it's not it shouldn't be majority majority rules

066but we also kind of have the the uh holidays we do because of that even the the Jewish ones they got in there first because they were you know you know more recognized than these other ones and so now we have two of them on and so if we can't put another one on for for the next one whatever that is how how do we is that Equitable just because they got there first right and so uh I I think having a different approach and maybe it's a hybrid maybe it's a hybrid approach of we can honor certain ones the way we do and then we can have a secondary way to honor them where we do some of these other things but uh I do there's there's a lot of considerations there that it's

067not as not as easy and I don't I don't feel as strongly in either direction I just I don't have enough information but I think I think we want to be thoughtful and comprehensive about it and and I don't think we have and have done that yet and we'll just have this conversation again without without doing that so thanks Paul um yeah I've got a lot of um competing thoughts I suppose on the topic um obviously you know if you were just to think about managing a calendar of of school um you you'd kind of want a lot of as much consistency as you can have and if it were sort of up to me I think it change the way everybody does the the February April breaks Statewide but I think not just for

068the reasons you articulated Paul about when we sort of asked people what they would want but just the the the consistency the athletic schedules the the it would just be a nightmare to do that if it wasn't done on a Statewide basis personally I think that's something that somewhere we got to figure out how to have that conversation but that's not here today um you know for me um and I and gu disclosure I sort of am a a very bad Jew um and and yet I I have I do have strong opinions on this because it is one of those places where as a kid growing up even in a place that had a decent sized Jewish population there were always Jewish kids around if there was there's always a sense of of the

069Assumption the assumption is that you're some Christian denomination and people still you know will wish you a Merry Christmas when they really mean happy holidays or whatever they don't mean to be offensive but there's an assumption there and I think that that for me um while I don't practice does make me very sensitive to the fact that um diversity equity and inclusion with the heavy emphasis on the inclusion part really means that we we have to test our decision-making against sort of what does it look like for those who don't already feel included right it to me it's that 20% and that's that's a large number when you're talking about a group that says I need something different you know that that the normal the quote normal schedule or whatever you want to frame it

070doesn't really work for for me um at least not in total right I also think it's interesting that there was a small number of people who had in identified that they wanted more holidays but if you looked in the chart of the different holidays Good Friday was there right which is obviously a Christian holiday um and so you know when we're talking about this I think it's we really in some ways have to separate out at at least for now the question of which holidays which schedule and think more about the principle of inclusion and and what are we doing to allow people to um celebrate those religious holidays that are important to them um and you know I I I honestly I think to some degree juneth holiday becoming a holiday and certainly appropriately

071so but the timing of it the school year I think has brought this whole dialogue back up because you're sitting there saying I need my 180th day and if I hit a snow day now that next day is J uh June 20th if the holidays you know the 19th was on Monday for example and you know you got a long weekend and that last day is a half day and everybody's like see you right um and I think we already struggle enough as it is to keep kids engaged staff engaged through the the month of June um you know it is as it is not an issue without some real serious things pulling in different directions right um because I do think that there's a disruption to the educational continuity but at its core to

072me if we're really looking at inclusiveness um I don't think we can make a change I think the the questions that I posed to to Jim earlier were to sort of get at the things that I think would be important to me in revisiting that decision at not for this coming year but at some point in the future um and that really is about understanding what those 20% of the people who said they need something how that how well that correlates to what the relative importance is and and I fully recognize even within that there could be people who feel very conflicted in their own answers right they could say look it's really important to me not to have my kid have to go to school that day but if I'm making a decision educational

073continuity is important and I'd rather have them not miss anything right so there can be a conflict within that that I don't think we can understand all that well yet um so I'm I'm certainly I think in line with everybody else which is for for the next school year excuse me I I I can't see making any changes from how we're doing um and recognizing holidays um I I will say Paul as much as would share your desire to kind of whatever else it is we feel like we need to to look into to really get to an end point on it and say okay we've done it I I think we have to acknowledge that the world around religious observances is changing um and that there will be pressures that that come to us

074at different times or whoever sits in these seats um that may make this a more frequent discussion than it has been in the past you know and I'm not saying there's much we can do to change that um but you could look at at the at least the survey data and say we should really be talking about adding Good Friday we're not talking about adding Good Friday and um I don't know what the answer to that would be you know nobody's come and said you know we really need to do that but now we have some data so I I won't belabor the point it seems that um we're all in agreement on the holiday issue for the next school year and that really kind of really leads us to the decision we have to

075make for tonight um I don't want to foreclose anybody from adding anything else but anybody else have any comments they want to make before we kind of get into the let's look at the two different options that Jim put together presumably looking Jim at keeping the holidays the same way um but let me go to Lori since you're on Route again and I don't know when you're going to get where you're going anything else you wanted to add to the discussion very soon no I I think I think I I got my point across okay thanks Marc Paul thank you Mark yeah I mean so for me like I said the the would we have support for at least getting getting us further along in the conversation I think the conversation can be uh almost

076in perpetuity right but but I don't know that it already has been well but but but it's but it's been going around in the same Circle you know and it's been around this table as opposed to a broader a broader conversation want that Jim I I had a vague recollection that on the point that um Paul was making earlier about talking to some religious leaders in the area I had a recollection that that was a point that came up before and you might have done some of that and I I did okay do you want to share anything from that and I it was so long ago Mark and I think I mean we're going back to at least eight years ago okay um when when I had those conversations and and we've added holidays

077uh or religious observances since then and again I think the complexity of and and I agree with you wholeheartedly I think juneth um is is a day that that needs to be recognized and observed it just where it falls within the calendar makes it a challenge um so it is what it is um so you know I think I think I've gotten the point I think the two the two calendars that you need to really focus on are were for FY or school year 2425 uh are we will recognize and observe those as days off within the calendar it's just um and and pulling in uh our clergy and U religious leaders um over the next year to before we have the next uh iteration if you will yeah I think what I'd suggest on

078that is maybe we have a follow-up conversation on diving into let's try to think comprehensively about any additional information for further conversation so don't run off and do something right away on that yet but I think at some point in the next month or so we can you put that in agenda so let me Paul let me come back to you cuz I cut you off yeah no I I I I think that I think what you said is I I agree with that just I don't think we can put a pin in that today I just threw it out there so I don't expect to be a i Ed the word comprehensive we couldn't even if we wanted to tell Jim what the comprehensive what comprehens that's my point yeah meant tonight anyway so

079so I I think that's fine and I said it might lead us to saying you know what this is the way to do it and but we've we've we've answered it to the best of our ability right I I don't I don't uh have no predilection on what that might lead to right I I I I don't know I want to know right um so there there was one other point I just wanted to to put out there that um it it really Echoes some things that you've you've both of I think of already said about sort of the question of what are we doing and are we doing with Fidelity around particularly the high school and to me I agree with those I think those are legitimate concerns um it also points out the

080work that still has to be done in terms of really appreciating the importance of religious observances and and quite frankly ordinary policy around family reconnect weekend that are not religious um but I think that that's really important you know for us to sort of move backwards from where we are we're trying to create an inclusive environment and we know that we still have some more basic things of just getting people on board with what we expect to support that effort to sort of uh I won't say throw in the towel but kind of back off of it to me would would be problematic but that that'll be my last word for myself and and and to me if we if we couldn't do it if we didn't have confidence we could do it with any

081kind of fidelity and we do it well then we're not we're not respecting we're disrespecting yeah right um and that's so and and I think that the two things is separate but related right we want to have the answer to what we would like to do and then can we do it yeah uh and that that goes you if say we could hit the hit the button say hey Christmas isn't a isn't a mandated holiday you you'd then go to the next level can we do it and the answer is probably not we we probably couldn't staff the buildings right but you know we get to that point but and for the same reason if hey if we decide this is a we have an an option b to do this and then we decide

082we we figure out well I don't think we could we didn't have confidence we could do it that means logistically it's not going to work anyway but we but we answer the question question so why don't we move to the two calendars Jim I mean I think um as I understand that the variation between the two calendars that retained the currently recognized holidays was whether or not we have a longer um sort of holiday recess or between Christmas and New years's and that that time frame um as opposed to sort of keeping it the way it's been is that a fair assessment of the difference between the two that is yeah I just shared the screen with you um really the the itations are as follows right so this is observing um and allowing for

083the days off um and this allows for two full weeks during that December through um January 3rd so the 23rd through the through the 3 um so that that moves the end date with five um again this is where juneth Falls is the 19th uh so our last day would be the 20th and the 27th assuming we had five snow days the other calendar um ends on the 17th and the the fifth uh snow day is the 25th and what it doesn't do is it does not pick up the 2nd and 3rd of January that's the that's the only difference of those calendars and I think it's important um to share um let's see here I'll share one other piece of information with you um which I I did email you'll notice that January 2nd

084happens to be our sixth most absent day of the year in terms of of attendance um and if you those these dates I'm sharing with you are all back up to holidays all back up the vacations for the most part um and you know that's uh pretty interesting statistic I just wanted you to have it before you make any decisions um but there were a couple dates in there that just look like the middle of December um like a Friday it could be yeah um was there a reason why you provided that those data points or am I forgetting like a day that well those are just the dates I don't I'd have to go back and look exactly why the 14th and 15th were okay um but I'm just telling you this is based

085on last year's um you know information that we currently have all right so it seems I mean for changes but generally speaking we're talking about two variations y um you know an option one calendar that um has a longer um break around the holidays and new year new year and another one that does not correct and so any anybody want to and Jim just because I I heard you mention the dates the one that that that goes through the third it's the 16th and 24th fourth right are the 180th and 85th days the no it would be the 20th and 27th okay so that's option four it's option four okay yeah sorry I brought up the wrong option here and option three is the one that does not go all the way through the third

086we come back to school the second and the third I think we're all just looking at visuals here right so sure right yeah right so option I guess you've called option one keeps option one or two oh then that I should stop looking at that then because those are not recognizing I think I opened the wrong I I remembered it backwards when I just opened them up uh and that's why I had those dates I'm like what and but I didn't look at the at the first line in the in the file yeah so here's option three I'm sharing on the screen yeah it's a little harder to see than uh so option three is 17th and 25th right correct no this the 19 no is the 20th and 27th option three goes all the

087way through January 3rd yeah I mean I I'll just jump in on this one just to to throw something out there more for conversation I I I just generally speaking worry about the utility of time in June and I worry about you know the the longer we go into June it just feels like um the the particularly if it gets warm you know the harder it is for kids to concentrate people burn out and I know it's still day 180 whatever it is but it does seem that at least my experience with my kids and seeing how things go it's um more time in June it's not necessarily more productive time and as much as this year might be the the year to look at it given sort of how the holidays fall um and

088that's second third and you're just come back for two days um you know for my two cents i' I'd probably keep it the way we've done and um have kids come back back in on that um January 2nd Date but throw that out I certainly my opinions are not as strong on that one as they are on the holiday issue just see what others think um when I go to again to Lori Lori anything you you want to time in on that one it's getting darker there isn't it it is I I'll be I'll be in the light in a few minutes um I I don't have a strong feeling about this I mean I'm only thinking back to when my I mean it's six and one half it doesn't or the other obviously everybody

089would love to get out sooner in June but January 2nd Al always felt to me kind of harsh um so my my preference right now if I had kids there would be to give a couple extra days right after the first but uh you know I I really will support whatever um the rest of you feel on this because I I don't have a strong opinion about it Mary thoughts keep in mind you're going to you have four kids you're in the house how do you feel on day 10 I love them uh I love them always I I don't really have a strong opinion either way either the only thing I'll say is that I think that if the last day of school without snow days happens to be June 20th it's going to

090usurp your January 2nd for attendance potentially so either way whatever you think is best honestly I'd defer to Jim and Mike on that one well I mean I'm always I think this option's on there because of me right Jim uh because I'm always the one who says it's ridiculous to come back on the second when the first is an overnight holiday so you didn't even go to sleep until the until the first right uh and then you so it basically precludes if you have spending that time uh with your family that's not you know uh you know close by so uh if you're talking about family time that this strikes me as as absurd but it also strikes me absurd looking at a calendar that potentially has a end date of the 27th of June

091so I'm conflicted because I do have strong feelings on both of those accounts I think it's absurd to get to come back on the second and I think it's equally absurd to be literally within one day because if it's not the 27th it's the 30th we have one one day of wiggle room if we happen to have a day where we can't have school because it's 95 degrees and and just you know a tremendous heat wave in the end of June which it could be right so um and your point I mean partly we're not those days in June aren't very valuable because if we're ending the second week in June then then June's you know we're already winding down if if we were if we if we scheduled to the 27th I think the

092first couple you know weeks would be generally more productive but the heat could play into that too right it would be even if we had good good days like take the beginning of this school year right you know you're winding up and and you're not as productive but if that happened to be in the prime of a uh of a contiguous uh normal week you'd be less productive because of the heat so I as much as I want to add the this the second third I I I don't think I can for all the reasons and it because I think it would be hypocritical talking about a concern with pushing the calendar being where it is and then add to somewhat arbitrary days let's see if Jim has any Jim or Mike have any input

093on it from a sort of you know what what really works best from an educational perspective and if there's stuff we're not thinking about so Mike and I are in different courts on this so let's be clear there so we got more split down the middle okay yeah no so I mean again I mean you're dealing with the end no matter what right whether it's the the 20th or the the 23rd or 25th 27th it doesn't matter right those two days I think are insignificant in in the overall sense of of what you're asking Mark um that being said I I think we will see a tremendous because of the way the holidays fall we the second and third will be will usurp all days out they're not coming back families are going to take

094an opportunity to go uh and leave on what December 26 December 20th they're leave they're gonna leave December 20th 26 they're gonna leave December 20th that Friday and they're not going to come back until the 4th of January you're going to get you know yeah 14 almost 15 days potentially of families to go away yeah the way this the way this Falls it it sucks because we're taking the 23rd off because we would never take the 23rd off but it's a Monday and we'd be doing a half day the next day right so we're taking it off for that reason um yeah again I it doesn't matter to me one way or the other I don't think from an educational standpoint the 25th or the 27th matter Mark okay it's whatever you feel comfortable with

095and I think all your points are valid on both sides I just need a calendar yeah I was say so let's let's get a motion here Mike you're on the other side sorry thank you I don't have a whole lot different to add I mean if if they one thing that I think we have to take into account right now is we're being judged on attendance on a regular basis now by the State and you know things like the second and third if kids aren't going to be in school it's going to that's going to work against us in terms of our accountability do I personally wish that we could be having those days so we can get our students out earlier in June yeah I I do because I think that once you once

096you elongate the school year we all know it's it's harder to maintain student attention come late June their friends are out of school from different districts it's hot it's warm people want to get to Camps summer camps have started for kids all these different things that uh everybody else wants to do instead of being school is happening and the later you go the more you have to deal with those things but I also you know I really do worry about those two days whether or not they're going to be effective days of learning too for the second and third so I I know this is a difficult decision I I could go either way with it really all right so keeping in mind certainly that we're really just talking about one year right this is

097not a policy level kind of thing we're deciding I think let's see if somebody wants to put a motion out there and see what the vote is and just go one way other I'm gonna make a motion go for it Lori what do you want to do I am going to move because I am moved by what Mike just said and and I think that's at least the only piece of information other than you know the six of one half a dozen of the other if there are absentee issues on those days and that come backfire on us as a district I'm going to move that we accept the calendar that includes January 2nd and 3rd as the day off and include continues to include the holidays that we have agreed that we would includ

098I I don't have the options in front of me I'm sorry I think that's option three I'm sorry no that's option four four thank you option four so we have a motion for option four is there a second for option four I'll second it okay any discussion on on option four being the calendar for the 2425 school year all right call for the vote Lori yes Mar I I I I'm gonna go no all right so it option four passes by a vote of three to one okay thank you I will have the calendar published all righty I wanted to be funny and say I don't like it I I want an option six well I mean I want this shifted so we're not taking the 23rd off and we can just add the the

099second without it being a dangler and you know so uh it seems like it's it's it's a perfect storm to make it the worst worst possible decision either way people won't complain about it at the beginning of the year they'll complain about it at the end of the year so you know that's way it goes all right uh next item on the agenda is strategic Plan update and approval yeah so how long has this been six years um uh coming on two coming on two feels like it it feels like it right so really this actually I don't think this will be a heavy lift tonight um we've already as a committee approved uh the New Vision um statement and the the big buckets of of the um strategic plan uh the indicators uh you've

100been a part of and had conversations with I what I wanted to show you was and I'm not going to go through the entire um slide deck because it's really a lot of backup information but what myself Mike the entire admin team as well as Prem leading us it was finding those those targets that we needed to add uh into um each of the ended up being 11 uh areas to focus on over the next five years and again we're not focused on every single area every single year uh as you've seen with the school Improvement plans they've already Incorporated uh the indicators into um the the objective into their their specific uh School uh plans so let me just share this again and start okay back to the front is this okay is it

101big enough yeah yeah okay great thanks so this was the aps vision statement that we agreed upon um and I again part of it is I want to get this entire thing approved so we can start using this statement um that the committee had uh agreed to um quite some time ago and I just included it in this deck tonight just as a um way of showing this is what um you had worked through so important to understand indicators and uh strategic and operational um the the Strategic ones are the most impactful things we're going to do over the next five years um this is the external dashboard so forward facing what the community will see um on a regular basis uh knowing hey this is where the the community uh or the schools is

102headed and the community can can follow along this um the operational indicators are more internal that we're looking at uh the data that comes in and identifying okay how does it relate to the Strategic indicators are there warning signs that we need to be paying attention to um this isn't something that would be forward-facing if you will but something we might be monitoring on a daily or weekly basis I'll give a prime example when we're talking about uh absenteeism and chronic absenteeism we might be looking at that information daily but we're not going to publish that out to the the community on a daily basis we're going to be looking at that data internally and then uh see how it translates to the Strategic indicator of of overall absenteeism if you will does that make

103sense for these two this is the these are the terms prem's been using with us for quite some time I just wanted to you know keep it simple everybody good with that okay yep we're all good Jim okay great I can't see with this up Sor okay so here are the indicators and what we identified as targets and I want to be clear not every one of these uh indicators has a Target yet um partly because we've got to identify what that looks like and I'll get to that in the next page um but we talked about our mcast scores our math Ela and science but in in particular in our subgroups um so we now have clear-cut goals right so APS will Target greater than or equal to 65% student proficiency in ela math

104and science uh student growth will Target a growth of 62% for ELA and math over a 5-year window uh as you know student growth 50% means students are growing at a at a one year clip uh each year uh subgroups identifying specific subgroups right um and and seeing how we can increase um how well they're performing student attendance Dropout rates these are very specific indicators and the targets that go with them um student participation rates this is something you know that we're struggling with right so what does it really mean to participate it's not just about Advanced coursework it's how how are students participating in our extracurricular activities and just because they're part of a group are they really participating and how do we set an annual Target to improve um more student uh participation

105but a more diverse student participation as well uh in certain activities including Athletics uh clubs uh and advanced courses hey hey Jim for something like that um yeah probably sound like a broken record on a lot of these things like uh how do we know and Define a good Target for something like that right yeah so so we can't right so that's where that we will that second bullet Paul uh we will examine and set an annual Target so we've got to actually figure that out that's why it's not um that's why we're not really focused on that in the current year in terms of of school Improvement plans in the district um yeah you have to figure out your method for getting a baseline that you can then correct measure afterwards what impact whatever

106you did had that's right but even if we do that you know I don't know if there's an external body that can tell us what normal or good is or bad is right something like that yeah I wish I could give you that answer we know it's something we've really want to focus on and we've got to come together as an admin team to to Really break that down more concretely to just to make a good point we we had the same exact conversation be honest with you yeah my M's no sorry I just wanted to be clear so for the 5year period are you measuring from this current year we're in or the next like starting in the fall it will depend Marcy it's a great great question right it's a five-year window for

107all of these indicators okay however not all of the indicators will start in 2023 got it okay because we have to identify like to that point that Paul was just making about participation rates we might have data for 2023 but what does that really look like um so there might be a three-year window that we're looking at that uh information so maybe we can add a column to this going forward like what period like what Academic Year you're in correct okay yep yeah we will actually have a column eventually that that shows all of our um targets did we meet them stop did we not meet them yeah okay yep yep we will have that we'll have a dashboard actually shows how close we are to meeting uh the one thing that we've really talked

108a lot about was because we have indicators um you can't be afraid to say we're not meeting them right or adjusting them based on the data that's in front of you based on um a variety of factors uh these might be high high achieving high level goals that we want to accomplish but we may not get there and we may have to Pivot at times so that's that's something that we think we think these are reasonable and achievable uh but you know I'll tell you right now um APS like number two uh chronic absenteeism that that's a real concern using data even from 2022 moving forward uh this year's data uh is ugly uh as much as we're trying to to work through how we're working with families on the discussion that how important school

109is and to be in school um we may be you know the department sets a goal for us and we may never hit that goal uh and I think that's happening in many other districts doesn't mean we shouldn't try to um so discipline rates reducing our out of school discipline especially for our highs population access yeah can you talk about that one a 1% reduction in out of school suspensions for high needs population sounds like a a weak number if you had a 100 of them and all you're trying to do is cut it to 99 um so is there a little context perhaps for for that one that you offer yeah I'm going to move forward in the slides then okay Mark sure um so so let me just give you you know a

110background here the this is in your packet you'll notice the data that we use to help determine what our targets are okay yeah and I didn't want to go through them all there's 60 50 you know 30 slides here yep so but to your point for number five I just wanted to shoot forward to that because you were talking about um student discipline so as we're looking at um the data from the state right we're looking at all of our students who were disciplined in school out of school suspensions and you'll notice part of that low income students with disabilities and high needs the number 4% of the 600 right so we're trying to reduce it to that 1% so a reduction of 1% which is significant in terms of the number right so so

111you're reducing a percentage you know you're taking reducing it by this percentage Point you're not reducing right okay yeah yeah it's probably just the verbiage that that used to explain the indicator that's all yep okay thank you that so that's why this is why this information will be present as well uh we'll publish it because then folks can go back and look okay here's why they're looking at this specifically right soate let's figure out a way to way to phrase that so we're not think somebody's not thinking oh you had 100 you just got to stop top one and you you meet this that'd be a it's a 1% reduction in the percentage of students of high needs population students that are being suspended I think well you're reducing you're reducing your current suspension rate

112by a quarter is what you're doing because you have a 4% you want to bring it down by one that's AAR so that may be a better way to say 25% reduction in current yeah so so so so yeah where' Smith that so somebody doesn't raise the same eyebrow that that that I'll clean the language up but I got your point yep yep all right thank you yep uh and I'll just go back to to that um again School climate we've talked a lot about it um you know using uh certain metrics that that Jen Cutler has talked a little bit about um we still have information from the Metro adolescent Health survey we don't have yet for 2024 so there are components of this that uh will certainly be implemented in the future uh

113family engagement data again what does that mean just because that you know we have families participate in in whether it's our um e nights or parent teacher conferences we've got to figure out how to capture family engagement and what does that mean um we don't have it's got to be meaningful data I I think that's pretty clear um we can say oh we had 200 parents show up to a freshman parent night well is that engagement the answer is ah probably not it's their participating but what does it look like um so it's another one where we're trying to figure out the the metrics to use in this instance and you'll notice that on 10 and 11 as well um we're not quite sure how to um we have a plan for like 10 deferred

114maintenance um we don't have you're talking about qualitative issues rather than quantitative ones yeah exactly right right so this whole notion of even anecdotal evidence like okay you know we had 75 parents show up at the the Warren eel night okay but it's the first time we've done that just at Warren um how are we then following through to make sure those parents stay involved um we know from our data from Lexi that more and more families are getting involved with parent teacher conferences but we didn't track that data previously so we want to increase that right so um and that's good and bad right you yeah we we we would be we look more successful if we had the data from before we did Lex and I don't know if you you know when

115he said lexit what that is uh so it's a online translation service that we can use um it's cost effective and it's actually it's available on demand yeah it's on On Demand and it's been very successful in uh engaging with our non- English speaking parents to the point where even if they don't show up the um uh that translator can contact them and and talk to them and they're and and potentially get them engaged and we've we've seen really great results with it uh but you know so we don't have the data before that we've already implemented something that has has made a dramatic Improvement so uh uh so you're going to have to improve on the Improvement which which you're always looking for continuous Improvement but that'll that'll make these not look as not

116track as much progress as we've made right but but that's a good problem to have I suppose yeah so I I mean the the F maintenance component I mean I think this is a much bigger conversation that needs to ur in the summer with with the school committee uh since we do not have our own um capital projects line uh that we rely on free cash and the town to help provide for not only deferred mten but new projects so it's something that we have to um figure out how do we build that into the budget uh if that's where we want to go instead of relying on the uh town to you know sufficiently which we know doesn't sufficiently but to provide the fundings um funding sources to to maintain equipment and buildings Etc

117um and then the budget allocation this goes back to uh equity and looking at each building and each department to make sure that um the needs of those departments and buildings are being met based on the students in front of them uh not just and I'll use that prime example where we've always had um the school choice funding and we break it out based on basically population size so the high school gets more school choice funding each year than Warren and mes does is is it fair uh is it the only way that um we are evaluating Distributing that those funds right now yeah um but there has to be a better way to do that and again it's about conversation with not only the school committee but admin team to identify proper um metrics

118to to do that um I've started breaking down the budget by building um so you can basically break down her pupil cost what's it cost to educate a student at the high school versus Warren and Mendes but is that really the approach we want to be taking um so um looking at it from an equitable or Equity lens is is something that that we need to do um so so so those are you know and and those are the Strategic indicators that we're focused on um and I think what I'm looking for is that the the committee again formally uh you know vote on the the vision statement but uh the indicators and uh and targets uh as presented uh and then we will come back at least now it's February um probably April and

119then I think we need to do it two or three times throughout uh the year and set those dates by the school committee in the summer uh workshop and say okay we want updates on these targets twice a year uh and and be consistent so that becomes part of the agenda that the school committee puts forth is hey we need we need the targets on these three items we're getting we're going to get some of those because at the end of the year when the buildings uh present their school Improvement plans um they will certainly talk about some of this stuff all right so the the the idea here is that we're going to sort of formally complete the process of the approval of our strategic plan yep and so what we need is just

120a motion to approve the Strategic plan as presented and that's that is inclusive of the indicators the strategies Etc that that you have outlined and the change recommended clarifying language yes okay for the 25% 1% y okay or or you know if you have um yeah I mean I think there there are some things obviously you've talked about the indicators that are not like you still need to figure some things out um to me that's I don't know that's the final half percent you know it's important but it's you the plan is I think the part that we want to adopt and the indicators that we're going to measure by the exact terminology of those those indicators you know in some places needs you know some more work for you guys to figure out what

121you want that Target to be um so with that are there any any dialogue or are we ready to just go to a motion any let me start any questions for Jim on this yeah I mean and and I I I think just a motion to approve it without any qualifications because there's a bunch of TBD things right and this is going this is a living document so uh any substantive changes that because you're not going to know it until you get into it that hey we need to Pivot and that pivot if it's substantive will discuss and and and approve and and and things like that so yeah I don't even think we need to worry about that language CU things need to be updated in there anyway right laori anything from me no

122I I'm sitting here thinking it would only be Marcy that might have questions because we've been like kneed deep in this for a couple of years we've had multiple workshops and we've had Prem working with us and we went through all of the um exercises to yeah I was joke earlier that she she wants to adjust the vision statement I'm good I'm good if you want get killed at first meeting by your colleagues it's a no I actually think it's very well laid out and thoughtful and um I already you know gave Jim my one knit edit so I'm good I'll learn as I go you're not going to share that with us no I mean he already fixed it there's nothing to and we didn't even notice how's that all right is there a

123motion motion I would love to make this motion go for Lori to accept the Strategic plan as presented is there a second second all right Lori taking the vote Yes I Marcy hi Paul hi I for me we have a strategic plan thank only 18 months after we targeted but that's okay it's good it's a good plan we always we always said we want to get it right not not done fast and a lot of the work's been going on anyway all right uh assistant superintendent update Michael I'll be very quick since uh we've talked a lot um we have got some uh professional development that's going to be happening in on March 15 so we're planning uh for that right now we working with a consultant that's going to go into pitway to talk

124about uh some some social emotional learning and some responsive classroom techniques for our our um preschool teachers uh Pete is working closely with the S3 team still um in terms of looking at our data assessment teams and how we're how we're improving that process and and Jenna and her staff have had some more meetings with our adaptive X Program in terms of our uh cultur responsive teaching practices also just wanted to quickly point out that the ashon Middle School drama production uh is coming in late February on February 29th and March 2nd The Miraculous Journey of Edward T Lane is being put on by a group of talented actors and actresses from the a middle school and um we're also working closely with Britney right now to talk about how we can Implement some professional

125development for our entire team regarding the new IEP process that is being implemented uh in the state so lots going on in our world but it's all positive great thanks Mike jim I've got nothing more than what we've talked about tonight two pretty heavy lifs tonight so I really appreciate the attention to detail that folks that had uh the next thing up for us is our uh budget obviously uh and a budget workshop on uh Saturday March 16th make sure everybody's got that in their calendar I'm looking myself and no I do not yes I do do you have a time frame for that Jim uh usually we start around 8:30 and go to 12 oh it's great that's like a nice half a day all right yeah actually I don't Jim I know I've

126got in my calendar but can we ask Gretchen to send out like a calendar invite sure can you know with a specific start time we going to be in room five most likely uh in the activity room y yeah y or do you want to be in Mendes yeah there uh you know what maybe yeah it could be in Mendes yeah wherever it is we just maybe get calendar invit everybody that be nice we do it well mean you know we the calf there you're going to have a lot better uh yep I just don't I don't know with basketball and things like that how many people around and so yeah terms of right noise we can we can always go in the music room too yep yep 100% okay all right War approvals Paul

127uh yes hold on one second let me back to that between January 2020 January 25th 2024 and February 14th 2024 I Paul Kendall authorized by my signature payables in the amount of 326,885 uh this includes general fund EXP expenses of $2,959 revolving expenses of $1,592 32 and Grant expenses of $2,890 and44 cents okay thank you Paul uh under our consent actions we have two sets of minutes to approve January 10th and 24th looking at the January 10th minutes did anybody have any issues with those minutes no hearing none is there a motion to approve go ahead he's not used to running the meeting you know I'm soed making motions I move to approve the uh meeting minutes for January 10th as presented is there a second second second Lori I Marcy I Paul hi I

128for me and January 24th here in nothing any can I have a motion to approve the minutes for January 24th so moved and do I have a second second second Marcy and uh so Lori I Marcy hi Paul hi and I for me as well Jim do we have any gifts and donations we do um HS student council for $488 88 for purchase of one commercial vacuum clean uh for the HS custodial staff HS student council $74.97 for uh purchase 72 small calculators for the math department Planet Aid uh $42.50 miscellaneous gifts and donations Alliance Energy uh $500 to support uh math and science programs at the Warren school uh Ohio pile prints $61 33 for miscellaneous gifts and donations and then uh weight $362 uh donation to ashack for a grand total of $1,889

12968 thank you can I have a motion to accept the gifts and donations as presented so moved is there second second uh for the vote Lori I Mercy I Paul I and I for me we are to member updates start with our virtual participant Lori I have nothing to add this time thank you all right Marcy anything nothing to how about you were appointed I was appointed there you go Paul um I I'm sure there's something I'll probably forget but uh as it relates to mindes uh kind of the the cool thing about having the the new school and and things like that we have taken two districts uh on tours that are in their feasibility stages of an msba project we've done uh the reading public schools and Southboro Public Schools who are both

130in that uh uh educational visioning section of the feasibility stage so uh and I'm sure we'll have some more great and I'm not sure there's other things I'm forting um the only thing I'll share is um so as as I've mentioned in the past the high school site Council um has been talking about the issue of weighted grading versus unweighted grading um I think that's becoming part of the community um knowledge that people are talking about that there was a survey sent out to students there's a um survey or at least an opportunity there listening sessions kind of thing um I listened in on on one of those this week um the virtual session on Monday afternoon um there were 30ish participants um a lot of you know a lot of people with you know

131as you can imagine some strong opinions on it and I think some other people were there to listen um but just want people to be aware of that if you're not that discussion is ongoing um the next uh site council is the 20 whatever the first Wednesday is after break I think the 29th um and I'm sure that conversation will be picked up there so I'll be interested in hearing the sort of debrief um but Kelly's been really good about emphasizing to people that she wouldn't be proposing any changes that impact kids who are sort of Midway through their High School career um so that we'd be looking at things down the road and we are doing due diligence and looking at things thoughtfully rather than um sort of trying to rush anything through so

132um ongoing dialogue and I I'll provide updates as I can on that otherwise I don't have anything else um action items I don't think we have any action items that we need to look at for the future so we are I think ready for our executive session Jim is there um are we talking about any units other than the teachers that Lori might want to participate in or we can just talk about the teachers uh I was just going to give an update on the esps okay so Lori are you going to join us an executive session I'm available to if it's appropriate okay when we do this I'll make the motion um and then we'll do the part you can participate in first and then you can excuse yourself when we move into the

133the part that you wouldn't participate in uh so with that I will make the motion to go into executive session under section 21 A3 to conduct strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares and not to return to open session we'll be talking about the um ashon Educators Association teachers unit and the educational support Personnel unit not the others Jim correct just those that is correct we don't need to tonight yep okay just just those two units even though there are others on the agenda so that that's the motion is there a second second okay thank you Paul roll call vote not that we Haven been doing anyway but Lori yes

134Marcy yes Paul hi and I for me four nothing roll call vote we are in executive session thank you have a good night everybody