001All right. Apologies for the delay there. Having some technology issues. I am calling this meeting of the Mount School District Board to order at 6:42 p.m. on this Monday, uh, May the 5th, 2025. And we will start with any changes or additions to the agenda. Um, and I do have one that we had checked um, I checked in about a couple days ago. We're going to move the student presentation of learning portion of the administrative report before public comment. So that's going to be number four and then the numbers will change from there. Um any other changes to the agenda? Hello. All right. No other change to the agenda. Okay. Hearing none. Thanks. Hearing no further changes, I will move on to the approval of the minutes from April 7th, 2025. Everybody has a moment
002to take a look at those or if you have already, um, do you see any changes or additions that need to be made for that? All right. I will take a motion to I'll take a motion to approve the minutes from April 7th, 2025. So move second. All right. Any discussion? No. All right. In that case, I will take a voice vote. All those in favor approving the minutes from April 7, 2025, please say I. I. Opposed. Any extensions? me wasn't there. All right. Thank you, Bill. All right. So, those are approved. Uh and next, as I said, we are going to have our student presentation of learning uh at this time. So, let's take it away. Sweet. Is it a I can share my screen. So, if you're in the meeting. Yeah. Yeah. Yep.
003present. Yeah. Yeah. Slides. Oh, yeah. There you go. Sweet. Um, so Kim and I had the pleasure of taking a group of 12 students down to Baja Mexico for a March intensive trip. And because of your grace and generosity of allowing us to take these students out of the country, um, we just wanted to come back and explore with you the sights and sounds of Baja Mexico. Um, and so the first thing we want to talk about is the group that we chose. Um, this group is Ecology Project International. They are a not for-profit group. um that specializes in student travel. They take kids all over the United States and through Central America um on various trips and the main goal of their trip is conservation. Um Kim, do you want to speak any more
004to that? Um not only that, they give a lot of money to science research and really support science and care about science, citizen science and and funding those um initiatives internationally. Um, so we really liked all those things. It wasn't just like a for-profit entity that wanted to take us on a tour and and do some sight singing. It wasn't that at all. That's not their organization. When I presented in September, I showed you their budget and it was like 1.5 million coming in, 1.3 million going out. So, they're not in it for the money. They're in it to have experiences like this with the kids. Um the biggest takeaways that they wanted to do was um expose these guys to a different ecosystem. Um the peninsula of Baja is a desert ecosystem which is
005dramatically different from what from what you see around here. Not only that, um we were camping on an island for four nights and so you have that marine ecosystem as well. Um and so those are the two big takeaways. And then one of the other things that I thought the majority of the kids got a lot of um benefit from was meeting up with a local high school ecology group called California Verde. Did I say that right? Maybe. Um and so there was kind of a cultural exchange that took place between the groups of students and just kind of understand what they do differently to help preserve their ecosystems and environments. Um with us today we have Hudson Austin. And so if you guys want to go ahead and start talking about the trip. So
006this is our group um that went down to Mexico. It's all it's consists of sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Um and most importantly, you all of whom were enrolled in marine yes um coastal marine ecology in the fall, that elective course that we offered this year. So, it wasn't a requirement, but it really helped ease that transition. Yeah, definitely. So, we all boarded a bus up to Burlington and then flew out. Um, so Austin, do you want to Yeah, sure. So, we first we got from the airport and we took like a three three-hour van ride to Le and we kind of like get settled in, get kind of familiar with the environment. And then, you know, we got our phone taken away, which is a big part of the of the trip because, you know,
007if you want to focus more on the environment, you know, get more immersed into the trip, phones got to go away. So, that's like one big part. That's I I don't think we got our phones back until like the last day of the trip. And of course we have the cultural exchange that Mr. Ber talked about. We kind of just um got familiar with what their organization does and we kind of you know have some fun together. We did some cultural dances together kind of understand the culture a little bit more and also we did mention the hype which uh we kind of went into the cities which in the next slide I believe there's a picture of it. So we went up like a like a desert, not like super high hike like the
008ones we have have in Vermont. It's kind of like a slope and we not only we get to hike, we get to learn as well like how the different plants adapt to the desert environment. Oh yeah, that's from the hike. That's us dancing. Um that's kind of view out from the city street. Um so hold on real quickly if you go back Hudson two slides. So our three guides were Anala and Ava. Um Anel and Mela were employees of EPI or are employees of EPI. And Ava is kind of a guide in training. Um and they were with us 247 from when we landed the airport until when we left the airport eight days later. And they were also scientists. Yeah. Ava and Moab were both um um graduating with marine biology degrees and so
009they were guides and had guide training but also scientists themselves and Ava was going to go to college and become a marine biologists. So yeah, they had both and were strong in both which was really key to making the choice. Um so after that day we took a boat ride out to spiritual Santos Island. Um which is 90minute boat ride. Um you know had all our stuff packed up, had our snorkeling gear. We set up our tents. We went snorkeling. Um we didn't have a package snorkel. Um then um and we had staffs on site that prepare our meals which was really incredible. Um and it was really good food as well. Um and we also had so we snorkeled at two different locations on day four. Day five we um did an island hike
010and then we did our research project throw. So basically we divided up into groups and did small research projects um with a very very limited tools that we had out stranded on an island in Mexico which was really interesting because we have a lot more advanced tools when we're um on land in Vermont. Um but that's part of the experience as well is that this whole idea of citizen science is where you don't need the fancy tools to collect data to analyze data to present your results. And so it's just about formulating the correct question to use the tools that are at your disposal. What were you researching? My group specifically researched the salinity of the water compared to um the depth of the water. So we measured it and then compared a difference. But
011were you in the same group, Austin? No, I was in a separate group. My group kind of did like a land thing because my I myself isn't too much of a water guy. you know, half the trip I was trying to I was struggling to stay afloat, but it's over. Uh, so my so my group did like a desert thing. We kind of measured the how the salinity and like different factors of the soil like affected like the abundance and biodiversity of the plants that's living on there and we kind of so we have like this little fancy tool to measure the salinity of it. And we did find out there was a difference. And actually, I can't remember too much of it because that's a little bit in the past, but it was pretty
012cool. There was a difference. And yeah, you also swam with sea lions. Um, other research groups, there was another group that looked at um invertebrate versus vertebrate species in tide pools. There was another group that looked at um coral diversity as you got further away from shore. And so, everybody was really able to kind of explore a question of their choosing an interest. Yeah, they waited a few days into the trip after they had had some experiences. So hoped that that sparked some sort of interest or passion in them. Yeah. So um this is a little bit more about the culture exchange and city city tour. Um the California members um strive to learn more about the environment but also advocate for protection but also advocate for protection of the normal land and waters. Um,
013we learned dances and we went hiking as we said. And then we also got to tour some, uh, tour the city and visit a few souvenir shops and go to a mix. Um, and then, uh, here, do you want to Okay, let's see. Was this the This is the actual island we camped on. And um the little beach that we were on here, I'm going to borrow the mouse real quickly. Um was in this little peninsula right here. And so we took the boat into there. And then um the hike that we took was a little further north. And then at the far northern edge was the Sea Line Rotary. So it was deserted. Completely deserted except for except for the other travelers that were there and the nice pretty yachts that were parked in
014the different inlets. Yeah. And also in regards to this island, I think uh there was a part like back there from where we camped. It's kind of like barred from from entry because they are trying to make a con trying to make like an effort to protect that vulnerable land. So we're not allowed to go over there. Right. Correct. So, as it says up there, um, in 2005 it was named a UNESCO World Heritage site. In 2007, it was named a national park. And so, there are only very specific areas that you're allowed to visit. In fact, at one point in time on the second day, the boat police showed up and they were just checking permits because I guess for every boat that you have, you're allowed to stay three days. So they just
015wanted to make sure that both boats had the appropriate permits so we could be there for as long as we were saying we were. So some pictures of us camping on the remote island. It's that was a kitchen that they set up. Wow. Those are a rows of tents and that's kind of a kitchen and there's a pile of sparkling gears. Um and somehow they they made us some cakes from that tent. I don't know how they did it, but we got to eat cake on two times. That's pretty nice. Um, you go to the next slide. I think I have to finish like a whole thing of salad in order to eat the cake. So, this is just more of the island and you can see in the middle of the screen there, that's
016just one of the images of food that they had. Everything was fresh prepared on site. Um, and it was absolutely delicious. And one of the other things to help with this idea of conservation is that after every meal, there were groups of people responsible for cleaning the dishes and cleaning up after everybody else everybody. So there's that sense of responsibility um towards that. And that was one of the cool things as well. I think also um they had to learn about you know sustain u what's the word I'm looking for? low impact camping practices because we had to pack in and pack out everything everything including all of our waste and human waste. So they learned about dry toilets and also learned about I all of your waste how you do that. how do you
017actually go to a place and leave no trace? And they did. They had a lot of um learning about no trace practices and and the philosophy behind no trace, which I think is is great. And to have feed that many people with actually a local that made all of our meals, amazing food. We all can you believe how I cook for that many kids and not have one kid complain about this. That's how I heard you at the I did. I'm not. try it. I uh I didn't even try it. I'm not a big fish seafood kind of guy. Um and then to have it only prepared in lemon juice and lime juice that just kind of No, thank you. Everything else was fantastic though, you know, and supposedly the ceviche was delicious as well.
018But uh I passed. Some more snorkeling pictures. Um underwater. I think you're the one to credit for most of this. Yeah, this picture when I was going through your your photo dump there was like most of these are are like underwater pictures scroll you can see some different reefs and different types of fish there. Um it was difficult for me to identify the fish because I don't wear contacts and everything looks like a blob. But they they did give these kids waterproof guides. Um and that's where the citizens science came in. Um, so after one of the cool things about the trip from a teacher perspective is they woke up, they had breakfast, they did a learning activity like a lesson and then they went and did an activity like snorkeling but with that like
019they were trying to get them. It wasn't just for fun like learning how to identify if you could see them right and count them and collect all that data together and then we'd come back for lunch and we'd do another lesson and then another activity and it I mean it went all the way to bed. I mean there was no down. And I'm glad there wasn't. They didn't they didn't even have a chance to miss their phone, right? Yeah. Um some great group research photos. Um was pictured there of us of us working. Um you can also see the water and our boat that we went out on. Oh. Um, if you look this picture of Justin, he's using the refratoter, which is what Austin was talking about that allows us to measure the salinity
020of water samples or soil samples. Um, and then you can see the one of the fish guides as well that they were able to have with them in the water as they were swimming to say, "Hey, I just saw this fish or look at that fish over there, or do you think it's one of these two?" And that was a really cool experience. Yeah. The kids don't know how lucky they are because I've done a lot of traveling and snuggling. And I haven't seen reefs and fish like this probably since I went to Hawaii 20 years ago. I'm going to water the breeze in the Caribbean are dying and they were they are so lucky to have seen what they saw and the amount of fish and coral and I don't know about your experience.
021Yeah. Um, Hunz, if you go back one slide. And so, nope, back to the coral reef one. You're going the wrong way. Sorry. There you go. So, um, you can see in these two pictures on the left hand side here a little bit, the white tips of the reef, that's the coral bleaching that Kim was talking about. Um, most reefs that I've been to on the east coast of the United States, the entire reef itself is that white color or it's a greenish color because the algae has taken over. Um, and so to be able to see reefs like that in a relatively pristine um, nature was fantastic. So, um, this is a group hike we took, which was about a 35 minute boat ride from where we were on, was it on a different
022mile? No, same mile, just a little further north. Um, it all kind of blends it out there, but basically, uh, it wasn't, it was maybe a mile there and back, um, in kind of desert coves. um some goats on this hike. Um which was really interesting to um see um because they're kind of they're endangered. Um you mean invasive? Um and uh yeah, it was kind of neat to learn about that. Saw some cactus, which was interesting. I think again a lot of the students that went on this trip are avid outdoors people and you say, "Hey, we're going to go hike and they think Mounty where you're surrounded by pine trees or birch trees or something along those lines." Um, and you're kind of used to the floor and fauna as you go on
023those hikes completely night and day. You know, a lot of these bushes, I think Justin or Joey looked at one and said, "That bush could kill me because of the size of the thorns that were on it and stuff like that." And so again, for me, it was an awesome experience. Yeah, I agree. So, and just learning water so scarce, we had to drink all of our water and had limited water and had to learn to be, you know, scarce and save our water. how they learn how the plants get the water from and trees get it from the rocks in an environment like that. So different than New England. Yeah. So, um this was our sea lime adventury adventure. Um we swam with them. They're not dangerous. Uh, it was I will say that
024was probably it was really kind of nerve-wracking because the current was really strong out there and some of us were uh pulling on for dear life because it was just so aggressive and Miss Gan is just like swimming along aggressively and picking everyone not knowing. But um and it it was a really good experience. Um I would just because of the water definitely was not my favorite part of the trip, but I'm glad I experienced it. And I did see some of that student. Yeah. And one of the students may have been nibbled on their life jacket. Jesse was. And so that was a really cool experience for her. Um, I I think the other thing about this is again this is kind of an island off the northern end and so as Hudson said,
025we're not quite in the protected areas that we were previous. So the currents were a little faster, the water was a little bit colder. Um, and you're also swimming with these mammals that if you get in the way of mom and baby, they will attack. Um, and so that was definitely probably the most anxietyinducing experience of a lot of our students, but they were all super happy to have done it. Yeah, our guide um on how done this and that's why we could do it several times. He had done it in the job before. So I think he put us all at ease that he knew exactly what he was doing. At least I trusted that he knew what he was doing and when to get close on Monday. So, it was a crazy experience
026and an experience of a lifetime even for me as an adult, let alone for a kid. Yeah. No, it was really an amazing experience. I would definitely say my favorite part. I'm not on here, but um my favorite part was just the experience as a whole. Being newsless for five days was great. Um, and it was just kind of nice to be, you know, away from the crazy world of the internet. And then, um, you should you just realize it's a very different world. Um, and it was nice to live in that world for five days. And that's the end. Thanks, John. This was there's a picture here kind of in the middle and you can see us pushing the boat a little bit there. If we go back. So, when we went up to
027the sea lion rrookery, which was out here at the very tip of the island, we came back along the backside and there's a little channel through here. And that channel may have been ankle deep. Oh, wow. You know, and so they were like, "Yeah, we're probably gonna have to get everybody out of the boat and push." Um, and so I really liked it because it's just just one of those things you don't normally do. Yep. You know, and absolutely to get these kids to to take 12 kids who don't a normally hang out together, b put them in tents on a deserted island without cell phones for five days together, and then to have all of these experiences. It was amazing. So, thank you guys for allowing us to do it. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah.
028So, thank you so much for coming here and sharing your uh your experience. It's awesome. Sounds like you're gonna maybe do it again, Mr. Bichy. Cool. I'll be back in another board meeting. Okay. All right. Um, do we have any more student presentation learning or the only one? Those are in my in gene official portion. Yeah. Okay. Cool. All right. So, with that, we are on to uh public comments and this is on any non-aggenda items uh or just announcements. Um, so I'm going to read my thing here. Public comment is not legally required, but we believe it is crucial for us to hear from our community members about their concerns over issues. Through these meetings, our board models for students how to conduct public discourse and that the board members of our community can
029approach controversial issues in a civil civil and constructive manner and can demonstrate mutual respect. Having said that, please note the board is here to listen. The public comment period is not designed for discussion and please start by identifying yourself and what town you reside in and limit your remarks to three minutes. Um I know that at the last meeting I think because of the subject matter and sort of matter discussing we expanded that a little bit. Um at this point we are going to go back to just doing three minutes one comment on things. If if there's something that really needs clarification raise your hand and I'll you know we can be a little flexible about but we do want to keep it kind of tight this time. All right. Any public comments or announcements
030for stuffing on the agenda? Hi. Um Liz Frederick from Brownsville. Um so I just wanted to take a minute to say I came to the last meeting um with some concerns and I'll probably have some concerns in this meeting too, but I just also wanted to share something positive. Um, so I did notice on the agenda there's not a bullying followup um to follow up with our bullying discussion last week and I know we had some things to follow up on about. Um, but I did want to share that I got a letter from Jennifer. I got a letter from Christine. I appreciated them both. um and Jennifer also followed up with the school um with transparency um you know and and an explanation and an apology and I just want to say that I
031feel like that is a really great example of leadership. Um and I just want to say I really appreciated it. Um, I would love to see more um throughout the whole district of transparency and communication. Um, which is something I feel Jennifer is really good at. Um, and snowballing off that because it's teacher appreciation week. Um, I just want to say I appreciate Jennifer. I appreciate all of the teachers at Albert Bridge. Um, and you know, I know that I've been here with some negative things to say, um, which are legitimate things and I'll probably have more complaints, but at the same time, I also want to say that like Albert Bridge is such an incredible place. Um, you know, the outdoor learning is incredible and you know, uh, Jennifer's done an amazing job of
032making all the parents feel really welcome in the school. Um, which I know you don't get everywhere, but I feel like I can walk into the school. I know everyone there. Um, I have warm feelings towards every single teacher, staff member in the building. Um, so I just wanted to publicly say like I love the school. There's a lot of positive things even though we're here. We've been coming to these meetings with concerns and sharing our um negative experiences, but I just felt lucky that you said appreciate. Thank you. Uh any other um comments or announcements? I I have one. Um I'll just throw out there that I got to go to the um the high school play Alice in Wonderland on Friday. Yeah. Wow. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. I know. It was really
033I, you know, I I'm always just so impressed by how uh how well our uh students, you know, put these plays together. Um it's always I mean, it was a really creative take on Alice and Wonderland that I hadn't uh hadn't seen before. Uh and hearing that they're getting out and, you know, going into competitions with these, it's just it's really cool to see how far that that theater program continues to go after all these years. So, and we'll miss uh we'll miss Lauren Warner a lot next year, but they're uh you know, they got momentum. So, yeah, it's good stuff. Bill just put a message in the chat and asked who was speaking and I don't know Liz if you said your name. You did. Okay. It was Liz. Frederick. Bill. Yeah. Apologies if
034you're if it's a little It's hard to hear because it's just my microphone. Yeah. Next time we'll have the owl. Yeah. Rehabbed. Um Okay. It's the second meeting I've had today where the L has gone on strike. If it needs an update, it might There might be a firmware thing. It's in the air. My work laptop had to go through like an hour and a half of firmware update before I could do anything today, too. So, spring cleaning. Spring cleaning. Yep. Uh, any other announcements um or public comment for non-aggenda items? All right. Well, hearing none, we will move on to the administrative report. Let's hope my computer holds up. I know working. Oh, the mic's good. I go ahead and start talking first. Um so we've had a wonderful um experience at our school
035recently which we want to celebrate with you all and then um bring something to your attention which is we had two students uh who loud sorry we had two students who is that better bill maybe we had two students who uh made the finals for the geo and history for nationals and they are planning on going. Oh, great. So, we've also had one that made it all the way to the international which is going to be in Paris. Oh, isn't that awesome? So, they are looking to raise some funds to help support them to do that. Um, and because this is an out of state, out of country thing, we want to make sure that you guys were aware of it. So, can I ask you guys a couple questions about that? Okay. The first
036is who's the history and who's the geography question? I have a history. Um I'm doing geography. Thank you. And so each of them their parents are going with them. Each of their parents also happen to be educators in our system. So that makes it easy in that way. Um when you guys are going what are you trying to raise? How much are you trying to race? Um, I think for Florida, which is the Nationals, it's going to be like um if you add up all the money, it's probably going to be like $2,000. The entry fee for Paris is $2,000. Yeah. Can you tell me a little bit more about that? Um the entry fee to get into the competition um is $2,000 and it's more to stay do other stuff. Why do you mean
037why that is more expensive for international what's included with the competition? Because it has other stuff not just building based has written spots and stuff. So for the international competition, there's a competition each day, different um exams and buzzer based competitions and mock scenarios. Uh and then there's also field trips to different historical sites every single day. Wow. So the competition is a lot more expensive to attend. How long is that time period? So the national competition, each of them will compete from two to three days depending on how well they do. And then the international is a 7-day experience. Um, and so there's one competition each day that they're required to attend. And then there's optional additional ones, uh, like history of music or, you know, kind of fun ones if you're into that
038kind of thing. That is so awesome. That's really cool. Do you have a GoFundMe setup and all that? Uh, we don't have that. We have done some fundraising this past weekend. We had the poer and pantry and students did a on demand trivia challenge. So people donated to either ask them or talk to them about their interest or challenge them to a three question challenge. And I think there was all but one person that you guys meet right one or two people. So they definitely had good practice and showed off um their skills. We are also selling Farmers Bobby donated some lip balms that are for sale at Per Gantry as well that we're selling and some other fundraising events. Right. And Amanda is our lead for our academic uh club academic club that meets
039during lunch which they participate in and so do many others in order to practice and get excited about these kinds of things. So congratulations. We're super excited. And where'd you go? To Florida. Let's start with Florida. Florida. Um, next week. Two weeks. Two weeks. Two weeks. Wow. A week and a half. Paris is in July. So, thank you guys. Congratulations for your hard work. Thank you. And I wanted to say as well that the Albert Bridge has supported the entry fee. Um so to be involved in all of this they had to take an online exam and then from there they went to a regional competition that the school paid for uh and then from there the national registration which the school also paid for the registration fee for the nationals. Um so thank you
040very much for the support. Uh it's pretty exciting to continue to foster this love of learning. Yeah. Um and to give some extra time to some passions that are developing. And also I'm I am so glad that you're still doing the GOP and or that you're still taking part in these things. I wondered whether they were still came about a couple years ago because I went to do the National Geographic Geobate, right? We always we all have experiences and we're doing that. They actually don't do that anymore. And so it's a different organization that has taken over all these academic challenges. Excellent. Yeah. So it's the same vein but it's not through the same organization. Where in Florida are you going to? Well, so this is the exciting part. It's in Orlando. So going to
041both like two years ago for history actually both of them for history and that was in Washington DC and then this year it's in Orlando. So we are doing a little Disney Universal side trip that is self-funded. Cool. That's awesome. There's also a giraffe sanctuary right there. Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. The kids that go to the competition, they have a Universal night for so cool. Kids from around the country and going to Universal together. Thank you guys. Thank you very much. Yeah. Well, congratulations and best of luck. Yeah. And you're okay with fundraising, I'm assuming? For both trips? Yes. So, if you wanted to do a gofundme um or something like it. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. I don't think we need to vote on it, but I mean, no, I think it's because it's an out
042of the country the especially that um international trip. We just wanted to bring it to your attention and get your Yeah. Get your blessing. I'm sure you're trying to remember to stop by butcher pantry because some congratulations. Thanks so much. Thank you. So I want to talk a little bit about um our exploratory time which is when we sort of put a choice for some flexible options uh for the students and in the bottom as you're looking at it right hand corner that's an image from one of the groups and this was following after every student in the school wrote their own book um and they had a book party and then this is following up with that They were doing a reading of something that they chose that they wanted to learn about and
043it was about paleontology. And after this reading, it's not on the screen, but they got to talk with an actual archaeologist and ask questions about what they do, why do they do it, how they got into it, and all that stuff. We're moving on to the next phase of the exploratory where kids are going to have different kinds of choices. And so it's kind of like every six weeks kids get a new choice. One of the choices this round is for students to be going to the all-state children's course which is for fifth and fourth and fifth grade. And we currently have six kids going and that is this Friday. I get to go with them up to uh CVU. So that's exciting. Um for our parent teacher conferences, student led conferences, we had 95%
044participation which is really good and we're still working on 100%. We haven't given up on that one yet. Teacher appreciation week has gotten kicked off. We are doing a theme around the musical Wicked. So, very green today. Um, tomorrow's pink. So, if you stop by the school, you'll see a lot of fun activities going around. And then I want to do an HHB update. So, the first thing I want to do is read my letter that I shared with the community just to make sure that everybody's um aware of what I feel is important to share. So, forgive me for reading. Says, "Diller Alba School families, I'm reaching out to follow up on our recent review of hazing, harassment, and bullying records and reporting practices at Albbridge School. This review was initiated after it became
045clear that the data shared at our last board meeting was inaccurate. Following a thorough audit of our internal documents and reporting systems both within the school and to state and federal agencies, we've confirmed that we what was brought up during the Mount Stutney school district school board meeting in April. The HHB information presented did not accurately reflect the actual number of substantiated HA3 policy violations at Alberta Bridge School. I personally want to sincerely apologize for this. The fault and responsibility are mine. Any students experience with hazing, harassment, or bullying must be acknowledged and addressed with care and urgency. The fact that this reporting was inaccurate highlights the need for better recordkeeping and communication. We are actively working to improve our recordeping and reporting process to ensure accuracy, consistency, and responsiveness going forward. Please know this
046matter is being taken seriously and we are fully committed to strengthening our practices so that all students feel seen, safe, and supported in our school community. Kristen and I will be sharing this update at this meeting and we'll continue to work towards uh local and systemwide improvements in our HHB practices and discipline approaches as well as communication. I also want to be very um clear that the board gave me space, Christine gave me space to figure out what we did wrong and so that we can fix it and have been walking with me through this process and that's a really supportive place to be. I really appreciate that. And I also want to just acknowledge the families that did come and share. Um we wouldn't have we wouldn't have addressed it if it wasn't brought
047up. So I appreciate that. I do want to share the numbers that we came up with after our formal audit which we looked at every document we had in our school. So in 2020 to 2021 we had two confirmed cases of substantiated harassment or bullying. In 21 to 22 we had two substantiated cases. 22 to 23 we had four. And 23 to 24 we had two. And I'll put that out there. um at our next when we will hopefully display that as well. [Music] So I'll start. Thank you. You're welcome. Yes. Um and if anybody wants more details about where I missed that, I'm happy to share. Uh kindergarten registration is coming up. Our bean supper, which is a communitywide event uh where our fifth and sixth graders serve students to raise money for their
048trip, is coming up on the 17th and that is at the town Graange or the historical society. We are doing a first annual touch a truck event to uh kick off the it is called public works public works appreciation week, something like that, which is that week of the 18th through the 24th and we're going to be bringing trucks to the school and we'll see how much um focus some of our students can get. Um 3 through six is going to northern stage the 21st and we've got our spring concert on the 5th. We are going to be doing this at the town hall. we used to do at the town hall um but it kind of got kind of too challenging to do that but now the town hall is ready to um let
049us take it over for that day and we're going to do an evening concert as well. Our um teacher has agreed to do that. Thank you all so much. Thanks Jeff. Um I apologize for being pictureless. I I need to make that a goal. I people who work with me know I can never find my phone. So I um I'm I'm going to put that as a goal. So I'm sorry about that. Um you know schools when they share grade levels and we have a lot of the same kind of things that go on. Uh for the elementary side we had 85% um attendance for um student led conferences and got some good feedback. Uh I think our students today wonderful job presenting even our young our youngest ones who it's really a a learning
050curve for them to talk about themselves. They're used to us talking about them right they're used to their parents but for them to sit and present and they did a great job. We have kindergarten registration. I think we've coordinated amongst all the schools to make sure we can share the right staff. So for Windsor it's the 15th and 16th of May and there's no school um for our students that day just kindergarten students. just kindergarters. Yeah. Thank you. Don't let that get out of me. Right. Um we are also celebrating teacher appreciation week with the help of the uh PTO and um I know Kate's got some help from the boosters and then Kate and Colleen and I are taking some steps to celebrate our staff. Um we I think I reported the steam night
051of having 200 plus people. We had math night um which was a lot of fun. It was a much smaller group about 87 plus people that attended. Uh a everyone who went really had a great time and the teachers worked hard to plan it. We are competing with um baseball and different activities that take place. So we've already made it a goal to try to coordinate these between seasons because I think that that would really help families would be looking for something to to go and do in the evenings. Then we have one more. May 29th is our literacy night and so we'll start advertising that. But these have been great events. We have two more leadership assemblies before the end of the year. And then the staff in addition to what they do every
052day are working really hard to um build class lists, think about student needs, um safety, um services student need to make sure we create classes that are um allow them to get those services. We will send letters home to families before step up day. And um we also have um teachers working on scheduling um and working in teams to try to make sure kind of our days get coordinated. There's a lot that goes on this time of the year that doesn't have to do with the day-to-day kind of teaching that the teachers already have to do. So awesome. And I I'll just throw out there I was able to uh to go to the uh math night which was really really cool. I went around and saw all the different games and I was kind
053of early so I think people were still trickling in when I was there. Um, but really really great night. I'm looking forward to it when I just put it put it on my calendar. Um, and the just a note on the on the leadership awards too, the stripe awards. It was really I I got to drop in last week and catch that too and do a little walk around the building and it's really it's really impressive to see how that practice has grown throughout the year. Um, I went to one way back in the fall and I think, you know, the the kind of new newer student leaders were still sort of like getting their footing and figuring out how it ran and it was, you know, it was early days. Um, jumping back in,
054you know, I think about five, six months later and seeing just how smoothly it ran and how into it all the kids were, just how how like positive and affirming it was was really really cool. So, yeah. In Windsor Middle School, our updates, um, we have some positions at the middle school. We have an ELA and interventionist um we're hiring for and a science teacher with math intervention we're hiring for. Um we're doing a kind of a hybrid position between Tracy and I in special education for a 56 um special educator and we are looking for a second lead teacher in our ACE classroom in the school. Um we are probably into the second round and meeting guests and giving tours to people for the um special education positions. The two positions we are in
055second round and moving people to our ELA intervention position to come back and meet teachers sit in and participate in math. Um I always put together a student panel to do some of the interviewing. So that will happen this week. And then we are um just starting the first round of our um science and math intervention position. So that's where those um we have our spring concert coming up with the high school on May 14th in our Louis theater at 6 p.m. Um students have been working really hard on that wood. excited for that. Um, our eighth grade passages ceremony is on June 12th at 6 PM followed by um a celebration dance for the middle school, all of our um sixth graders from Albert Bridge and all of our notepad um homeschoolers. and our
056school counselor, Ms. Richtor, is working on the transitions by setting up some meetings with our fifth grade teachers in classes for students coming in for stepup day to sixth grade. Um some shadow days in middle school. And she's also um setting up some shadow days for eighth graders who like to see high school classes with the high school um teachers. She's also working with Mr. Mc Phillips to find days that um six girls medical can come and visit and do some activities with us at Windsor. So that's happening with Miss Ricker and all the counselors in um student leadership. Um couple of the pictures here in the top right corner. We recently this was more a little bit of teacher leadership. Ms. Fox um had reached out to the precision museum and brought in their
057um lead museum educator who came in and did two days of electricity magnetism lessons with our students. It was very engaging, a lot of fun. Here we had two students using some LED bulbs and working with volt meters. And below every month we have our students of the month. We're very excited to honor them each month. And again, this year the PTO um sponsored all the $5 gift cards from local businesses for all of our students, which was really nice that they appreciate. And the other picture is um our first seventh eighth graders who had applied for the National Junior Honor Society um membership center and Mr. Theo Avent is our high school National Honor Society advisor and he will be continuing to work with these um seven students next year. And any of our
058eighth graders who are currently who are still interested in applying can apply all the way through with their um requirements of this year and they can be inducted next year. and we will continue working on this and and developing this um society at our school and it was really exciting for them to have their first um event also with leadership um our student leadership team um did all the organization for our most recent dance which was last Thursday and it went off without a hitch. We're very thankful to all the shaper rooms that the students um secured. They did teachers, parents, and some people who don't even have kids in the school who were very willing to just be just community members who were always volunteering. I asked them how they wound up here. Why
059are you here? Why don't I'm here? They said when they were doing drop off in the morning, let's let's keep the car. So, they did a great job securing Shepherd. They got all the donations for snacks. We had um homeschoolers, students, a couple of students from Alberta Bridge. I think everyone had a good time. Um the playlist was excellent and the custodial team was like, this was the fastest leadership cleanup team ever. They were done in 15 minutes. Really great. They were super super proud. And they also when they got there to set up for the dance, the custodians had already moved everything out of the cafeteria and they said, "Who did this for us?" And I said, "The custodians." They said, "Oh, we need to do a thank you note." That was also the
060same night that at this we had the bear. Yeah. And it was our announcer walking into the dance. The police came just give us a heads up that the bear was just on good court. So I was for the dance. Where was it held? In the cafeteria. We mostly hold them in the high school cafeteria. Kids like to have a it's good to get the lights down. There's enough room for people to chaperone and um it's easy access for in and out and we don't we don't kind of damage any gymnasium floors. Okay. And it's easy clean up. It's made for like making messes and it's big enough. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Um, the other two student leadership events that the leadership team would like to do before the end of the year is
061they're trying to do another kind of team competition with middle schoolers, against parents, against teachers. They did a basketball tournament at school. They want to do maybe a volleyball tournament in the evening they're working on. And they're also going to be leading the um field day for their classmates um at the end of the year. um student led conferences. I think we're a little over 75%. I think we're really getting close to 80% right now because we keep the list of the students who haven't presented and we slowly a lot of them are saying, "Oh, my mom couldn't come. We're going to get her here." So, we're waiting on a couple parents to come, but we also want to make connections for kids who want to just present their portfolios. and they've been presenting to
062a lot of our support staff, some of these people in this room, um some of our custodians, bus drivers, anybody that they just really feel close to to help them just give them some nice feedback on their portfolios. So, that's where we are with that. Thank you. Thank you, um I also wanted to an update about our staffing. We are fortunate to have almost everyone coming back. Lauren, you know, it is moving and we have we're opening We're starting our theater um interviews this week. We did get um five applicants, no one local. They're also very far, but they may seem very injured. That's also in addition to be a hard job. That's also a highly coveted job. It's a hard job to find. So people are willing to relocate relocate for it. Um so
063we have four interviews set up. um we have a team working on those interviews. It includes students, it includes um theater, it includes Gina Bernstein from Heartland. So, we're really all working together to find the best fit and an unusual move we have more and kind of leading that charge. Um looking forward to her and she she knows she knows the vision that we have set and so she's helping to continue that process. That's great. Um Steve Mallaloy who's a veteran teacher here has moved into our instructional team leader position here and he has been as like a natural progression. He's kind of member just like right in there and super lucky that last year um Theo A joined us in the special department as an interventionist. Um the role that Steve was leaving happened
064to be where Theo was certified. So we're hoping that he would find he did. So he will be taking over um that role of history teacher and also helping with um the intervention as part of that job. So we're feels really good about our our staff for next year. Um we'll be first time in a long time that we're opening you know with the staff counseling department. So that feels great. our student le conferences I should work first because my I only had 30% attendance and that is for a variety of reasons that high school is different but we're doing the same thing Colleen is doing and we're systematically going through um to make sure that each student presents to someone or at a time that is convenient with their parents and since we've been
065doing that we're up to about 80% but on that night we had 30%. uh local school collaboration, Bellow's Falls reached out to us and we had done all that work with the AOE uh starting this year and they were interested in learning what that was about. So they brought a team over here. I think they brought 12 people with them and we did it very efficiently. They came at 8:40. They were done by 10 o'clock. Uh they each got to meet with their counterpart here and it this room was buzzing. It was it was amazing. Um, and I have find coming from New part of the when you work in a school in Vermont, you're the only person doing what you're doing and particularly when you're in a high school, right? Um, so that was
066really cool and through that process, we learned from the global full disclosure of life, right? So that's the natural thing they said they are she came from a higher education and she had brought that experience of how they um address the day-to-day discipline like the little the things that go on in the the day-to-day world a larger HB how they're addressing that and what she has presented to their team and their learners and um we're working through to see what that could look like here. I present it to Christina and Tracy Price want to move forward with it. still have a couple things to work out and then we hope to present that to you before we present it to students and parents, but it feels good. Um, and just how good that meeting with
067that school felt. Kelly and I have been talking about getting other regional principles and teams involved because each school does everything a little bit different and they have a little bit different strengths to school. So that was a kind of a a spur of the moment thing, you know, about two weeks ago that really had great results. And you just happened to Yeah. No, it was a busy day when I was here. Yeah. No, it was great to, you know, just pop in the room and see everyone really just like keyed in working on uh was it the proficiency based graduation requirements, which I know has been a really heavy lift for everyone, but uh yeah, it's awesome to see that kind of collaboration going on. Yeah, it's felt great. Um this picture here is
068one Lauren sent to me that kind of capture the um Alice Wonderland that is our curtain and it's just a I don't know it's just a neat picture that I wanted to share um wonderland was great I hope everyone got a chance to see it and then I I tried to keep it short now I'm still talking a student presentation but I wanted to share just the spring events that we have coming up in May so you can pop in I didn't want to overwhelm you and then I'll share tunes with you when they come because they're also in abundance Excellent. Thanks, Kate. All right, I am last up and I don't have a ton of new information to share with you tonight since um you were all at the SU board meeting a week
069ago. Um we are uh it seems really um like the year has flown by and we're already to the end of it. Um so we are in end of year planning and planning for next year. You heard some of the transition um conversations that are happening. with our teachers. Hiring is underway. Um it does feel like we're we're having more a few more applicants than we have over the past couple of years, which which is promising since um we know that um there is a teacher shortage uh not just in Vermont, but across the country, which doesn't look like it's going to be getting better anytime in the near future. So, it's great to have applicants. Um we did have our first instructional team leader meeting with Bridget Fariel who's the new director of curriculum
070um instruction and assessment. That was last week. Some of the items they were talking about were um instructional coaching and what that looks like and that was you know that's been Angie's um uh kind of dream. So, it's uh it's it's really exciting for her to see that it's moving forward and they've been um training coaches as we've been coaching. So, something that happens in education, you're building as you're flying. Um but what what coaching is going to look like in the future. So, that conversation started. Um the team is looking at the assessment calendar and when assessments are happening. had a long really good conversation about um creating the testing windows so that the information that we get is in line with um conferences so we can really share that information with parents um
071and you know just get a letter without much explanation. So we had that conversation. Uh this team will work on the professional development plan for next year and um have have already gotten feedback from staff on some um what they're looking for in um literacy and math for professional development and and talking about um we hear from teachers all the time that they need time with their grade level peers to to sit down and map things out and talk about what's working and what's not working. So, that's really uh been front and center in those discussions. They'll be working on the literacy plan that was started. It needs to be finished. That's um part of the um literacy uh law implementation that we're working on. And then they talked about summer work. So, it was
072a really productive meeting. It felt great. We have a strong team, which also feels um like we're moving in the right, you know, continuing to move forward. And I think Bridget's going to be um a really an excellent um curriculum and instruction director. Yes, Elizabeth. Uh is our district going to replace the deep with anything else? I don't know. I haven't had that conversation. No, that's the educational sub department of the department of education that does research and uh about educational practices has been totally defunded and so they're not doing it anymore. So there's nobody to actually administer the NEP exam or derive data from it. Okay. No, we haven't talked about that yet. So, I'll put on my list. Um, they to require the NE exam, but they don't have anybody to analyze it.
073That department is totally defunded. Uh, which is unfortunate, but um I think we're going to be seeing more Yeah. stuff like that in the uh coming six or eight weeks. Okay. And there's a lot of uh uh area announcements that are being made there at the moment. So I I would like to see us address them on supervisor at each meeting so that parents can know that we know about it and that we are planning for it. and uh and so that we can talk about how to plan for it. Yeah. Okay. Um so the I don't have any um legislative updates for you tonight. I was in a brief meeting today. I did hear that I think the house responded to H454. Um well at the moment specifically for you Jennifer um the classroom
074size uh requirement has been removed in the Senate version of the bill. And the school size requirement has been removed for now in the Senate version of the bill. Yeah. Um, I tend to think that that is like there are some changes that they made that were obviously strategic because they'll have to go to a medium conference which is when the House and Senate bills are really far apart and they have to try to make them come together in one bill. when they do when they have their committee of conference um they assign two or three it depends uh members from each body to work together to negotiate uh between the two versions of the bill and then when it comes back for a vote it um is an up or down vote. There's no
075amendments or anything. There's no floor speeches or anything. Uh no, none of that stuff. It's just up or down. And uh it's just one of the many ways that a bill has to die, but it's an interesting one. Um and I think that some of these go back to the Senate version of the education bill. I think they stuck in some things in there that um are kind of purposefully um there for negotiations. I don't know whether class sizes is that way or not. Um but uh basically at the moment the last week the Senate slowed down a lot on what they were doing. The week before last they were um really ramming a lot through quickly. Yeah. And now they're uh they seem to be you know taking a step back which is Did
076you hear Elizabeth that I mean I thought I heard that uh draft 9.1 and I thought out on it got voted out on Friday afternoon four o'clock. Yes. And that's out out of the house. Out of the Senate. Okay. And but then it will go to the Senate has a different theory of theory of education. Not that they necessarily have one. Um uh the house in the house we normally believe that any financial changes need to be um need to have policy that go along with them. You can't just make financial changes to the whole school system without having a system to back it up. Um, in the Senate, uh, they don't feel that way. So, it will go, it got voted out on Friday from Senate Education. Sorry to be so wonkish, but No,
077it's helpful. Who I am. Um, it'll go to uh, Senate Finance tomorrow. Y discussions haven't already begun. So, we don't know what that bill will look like by Okay. Um, and any any updates I get, I'll share with you. I just was in a quick meeting today and they said there'll be a side by side that comes out shortly like that compares. I'll share that when I get it with you. But I have not read what came out on Friday yet. Well, it's 120 pages long, so it's hard. But uh you can actually create a side byside by using AI. Yes, I I I I've been experimenting with that. Yeah, but I like to read it too when I have, you know, the time. So anyway, um that concludes our report for tonight. I'm going
078to stop presenting. Right. Thanks everyone for the administrative report here. So, we ready to move on to item six on our list. It's technically seven now. So, we're gonna we have some items for discussion followed by motions if needed. And the first one which I think will have a motion is the tax anticipation note. Yes. So, every year um board approves tax anticipation note. That's so we can borrow money if we need to to make payroll. I have the amount for you uh which will have to be in the in the motion. It is2 million 986,6110 and we do need a motion and a um a vote on that. And the tax note will have to be signed by all of you physically in June. They don't have it. It's too early to have it
079for signatures tonight, but All right. And that's for 25 2025 2026 school year. Yes. Okay. So, I will take a motion to uh approve the tax anticipation note for the 2025 2026 school year and that is for 2,986,6110. Second. All right. Any discussion? Sounds like Bill wants to talk about it. We can hear you breathing, Bill. That's all. Was that s the sum total of your comment, Bill? No. That Yes, that was a sum total of my comment. All right. All right. Uh, hearing no further discussion. Uh, on this one, I will take a roll call vote. Uh, starting with Elizabeth. Teddy vote. Nancy, hi Megan. Hi. And online we got Bill. I Amy. Hi. And I'm an I as well. So that is approved. Thanks for sharing that with us. Got it. All right.
080So our next item um is on improving the Manhattan school district discipline system. Um and this is continuing on from um from our discussion last month. This is the updates on the work that our our administrative team have been doing. Um following that discussion I think specifically around um increased commun or a change in how how those policies and well really procedures are communicated um and some other updates I think around matrix uh and then the reporting schedule that we're gonna use the next year at least. All right. So, Colleen's going to start start us off and I'm going to click on our uh well, I'll let Colleen go. She's in charge of the slide. I'll be quiet. So, just get to the right tab, Colleen, for you. Hold on. Our behavior matrix draft that
081is our working document is 88 pages. Um, let's scroll down. It's broken down into our K through two with about 15 um behaviors. Um our three through five. I'm sorry. Uh it's just loading. Sorry, takes a minute. I will Oh, I'm going to get to the part you're talking about, Colleen. It's um our third third through fifth grade about 15 identified behaviors. Many of them repeat and they're just a little bit different sounding at different grade levels. Sixth through 8th grade across our whole SU um 25 um cases that we address and in 9 through 12 there's 22 but there's probably a lot more detail in some of our high school ones. Um, in each of the Sorry, it's a slow. It's all right. In each of the pieces in the matrix, it lists um
082just bring it to the top here. um whether it's a minor or what the behavior is um a verbal credible threat disruption. There we go. It will have what is if it's a minor or major and then what is the staff response and the behavior team response and and pieces like that. So, like one example of one that I'll share with you on page 63 is um if a student were to be found with a vape. Um that what that process looks like. And are you in the middle school? Um it's in middle and high school. So, I'm just going to page 60. I didn't know which one. There's third through fifth. Let me just get there so people can see it. Um, use of a possession of tobacco vape marijuana on school property. It's
083always considered a major. So, it says minor or major and it identifies to the administrators um which one it is and what are some of the responses if it's minor, if it's major. Um, in this one, in possession of faith marijuana on school property, it's always taken from the student and then they're connected with administration um ASAP. If it's a first, all of our um vapes we give anything like that. If we confiscate anything, then we share that with our SRO. um we call um all of the people who work with our students. So if it happens to be a student who is on a plan, we would definitely contact our director of special education. If it is an equity issue, we would contact our DEI person. We always contact the parents um the SRO
084to know what's happening. And some of the responses to the behavior are mandatory bag mandatory bag check for a certain period of time. Um four days of inschool suspension. One of the things we've worked on over the last two years is having our planning room and having an SAP for substance prevention um education. So sometimes the students do not feel comfortable or able to or want to have the education piece. So they have a more traditional of the for in school suspension, but we have two days of inschool suspension with sessions with the SAP um safety plan for re-entry. And then in some of the behaviors there is listed second offense or um third offense. And so it usually always goes through the list of what it is if it's a minor or major and
085the staff response. Um, another piece I want to draw our attention to is that um, this is, like I already said, the third year that we've been working on this and sharing this. Um, we have an update day to work on this in June. One of the things that is really important has been really important to the administrative team was kind of the leadup in the beginning of um of this document and that is the responses to behaviors in general, responses to trauma behavior, how we support students, what are some alternatives that we share with all of our teachers when we do um training. So um if you look on page 12 Christine y responding to behaviors we have some of those. This is what our school has done over quite a few years. I
086think Jennifer would know the first year we started working with our um collaborative problem solving and with um our um our team that has helped with our trauma work from think kids and from Dave Melnick and how we're always looking at the challenging behaviors versus stress behaviors and it was important to us to keep that in mind when we were um creating the matrix as a as an administrative team and staff. So, I think the part that's published just to add on um we published the beginning part of this document in our in our handbook this year in our parent guardian handbook and um plan to work as Colleen said in June to update the matrix. We've lived it and we've there be there have been behaviors that have come up that are not in
087the matrix. So we make a note like we have to figure out this um for next year and um you know just working through some of the behaviors that have come up um through the matrix. We know we have some tweaks to make. So we plan to do that and then um publish it out. And I appreciate you sharing this. I can see um the amount of work that went into one one question that I have just for kind of consistency across the you know large amount of documentation we have on this and large just verbiage around behavior has there been in the process of doing this have there been any updates to the procedures as they exist to make sure that they're all harmonized kind of across the board I think that was something
088we have discussed some and it's something we've done in our handbook and I think we've done it in this too I Christine has shared here that sometimes when a new behavior comes up that maybe we didn't have in here or something that we haven't addressed, we will add it to working documents in a different color that it was in the handbook. So I think there might be a few of those. Yeah. But were you asking more procedures? I know that's like the level closest to Yeah. So, um, definitely, you know, there's some information on the HHB policy in here. um we have things in our hand because we have to on um weapons, what that looks like, those policies, but um definitely in making sure that we're cross-checking and making sure all behavior related policies
089are um uh um can't think of the word I'm looking for, but they are referenced in this document and Okay. Yeah. Yep. So, that's on our that's on our list. All right. Yep. Okay. I'm gonna go. Can we see this? Can we read it? You the board has a copy of it. Yes, you do. We haven't released it to the community yet. Um the the first section before you get to the matrix is in the handbook um for everybody to look at. And it does, you know, talk about our philosophy and some some of the ways that we respond to behavior um but not the actual like if you do this, this is what you can expect. And you know, we've talked a lot about it as a team and we've made some notations on
090the document. You know, this is a guide and while we want um consistency in our responses to behavior, it's not always black and white. It's not. And so I think some of the concerns with the team are if we release this document and there are behaviors in our schools, um will there be questions about well it says this, but this was the response. So, you know, we're making notes on there that it is a guide and it is up to the discretion of the administrator to um really make those final decisions about consequences. So, yeah. So, yep. As far as uh timelines, I know you'd mentioned in June you're going to have some time set aside. We're going to is is the idea to have this complete and ready to put out of the world
091by the beginning of 2526? That's our plan. Yeah. Okay. Do you have a different when you have a behavior matrix, do you have like a you probably have um you know a list of additional considerations when you're making a decision about how to address a behavior? Um uh does that list change for every different behavior the the consequences or the responses? No, the one I think I might I might be on the wrong page here, but I think in like the last column like if a student is on call if a student is on a 504 call here for input that way you're sort of I mean I would think that uh additional considerations for vaping might be totally different from additional considerations um disruption. Well, I was going to say wielding a weapon. Oh,
092yeah. Yeah. Not not that the obviously the behavior is different, but do you have things to take into consideration when um at different levels of severity? Yes. And different I don't know why we keep using BB. guess, right? So, a vaping consequence for the the first time looks very different than a vaping consequence for the second time. Um, and something like a weapon has like very cut and dry um pieces because they have to include the police department that we have to look at. But but if a student comes to school and forgets that they have a jack knife in their pocket because they went hunting this weekend. I mean, there's some common sense that goes along with it as well. And they come to you and they're like, "Oh my god, I forgot I
093had this in my pocket." We're not going to suspend the child for bringing a weapon to school in those instances, right? I think that's kind of what you're getting at. Or maybe not. Sort of. I just mean that the the things that you would have to consider in the background of a child in the child's whole life when you're when you're considering how to meet out punishment uh would be totally different for for this student versus this student. And I wonder whether you uh have suggestions in the matrix about other additional things to consider when when you have a student. We do have those conversations. So for example, if you have a student who has a disability like Tourette's, you're not going to be flagging them the same way for using as you would somebody
094else, right? Um there's also if you had a kid who just uh got kicked out of their house and doesn't have a home, you're going to treat that differently, right? But we don't actually have like a list of here are the things that we come across that cause us to think a little differently about how to help support the kid in that time. Does that make sense? We don't anywhere. And I was wondering is if like because the behaviors some behaviors don't have causes. They're just like peer pressure. Some behaviors do have causes. And I I just wondered whether in the matrix you have or plan to have things that uh well there's a range of of consequences and I think we've all been trained in in trauma responses and typically it's uh meets the
095definition of a traditional um behavior consequent peer pressure whatever bad decision in the moment or it's a trauma response and if it's a trauma response we look at it in a very different way. Um, it doesn't mean there's no consequences, but we do look at it in a different way. Um, and respond differently. Uh, Bill, I see you have your hand up. Yeah. Um, behavior is is an immensely complicated thing and for some of us who have studied it and actually studied under some of the best behavioral interventionists there is in the business. Um, it's important to understand that all behavior has reasons behind it. Now, some of those reasons are within the child's um scope of control and some aren't within the child's scope of control or or even less in the child's scope
096of control. And so, um I think the legal profession has really come up with terms that fit behavioral intervention. And one of them is um a a reasonable person um within um actions that you take for um uh consequences. Would a reasonable person understand that this child is under a different set of rules because of socioeconomic or traumabbased uh factors and things like that? And so it it's really difficult to come up with a very cut and dry if X happens then Y happens. Um mostly because you know nothing is equal. Also a lot of behavior um uh um uh things that you can do are are scripted in statute. Things that you can do and things you can't do. And so a lot of the policy covers uh what statute allows us to do
097and then it it it's when then the procedure to try to see how that is applied. And so I think the document that the administrators are coming up with is really a a fantastic first step in creating consistency not only within schools but across the district. So Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate that, Bill. Um, and just to kind of carry on that point. I mean, I think, you know, I acknowledged before it's clearly, you know, you've been working out what, two or three years, it's an immense amount of work that's been done. And I think that as as much of a guide to what what it will pro landing in the zone of what it would probably look like to respond to an entire, you know, encyclopedia of different behaviors you might see with students.
098will be very helpful. Um I think the question that I have right now because again this is the double-edged sword of there being a ton of information and a ton of verbiage about it is that it's a ton of information. There's a ton of verbiage. So I'm I'm interested to hear what at this moment what the plan is to once this is out to communicate it with with school community with All right. You ready? All right. a little bit more and then we'll get to that. Okay. I'm gonna walk you through basically what happens when a behavior happens in the school. So you'll see on the bigger that's okay on the I'll see if I can make it bigger. Left hand side is it's a minor behavior. It falls under minor categories and our behavior
099matrix one columns uh one of the rows is minor right and then followed by a major. The middle is if it falls under harassment, bullying potential and then on the far side is the major behavior. So if it's minor behavior, this is basically expected to take place in the classroom by the classroom teachers. This is basic classroom management stuff. So we use responsive classroom at the elementary level. And essentially there's three major things which is if you break it, you fix it, you get a timeout or you have a loss of privilege. and they should be relevant to the situation at hand. Um, so for example, if I'm not using my paintbrush in an appropriate way, I may lose the privilege of using that paintbrush until the teacher has time to go back and retach
100and you model that you can use it appropriately. Um, so these are modern behaviors and we don't log those yet. We do consistent. We log them. It's not consistent. I mean, so a teacher's in class, they're they're not logging every time they're redirecting a kid to go take a timeout, right? Um, so what happens is and then logical consequences in play imposed and they fill out the um behavior log if it meets a certain level. Uh, if the child keeps doing it, then we're thinking something more is going on. They just needed the reminder and teaching. So we look at it moving into a major category at which point we communicate with the parents and we bring them up to what we call kid talk which is part of our NTSS process where they go
101and communicate with the team to figure out what might be some ideas and this might be a point where collabor problem solving comes in. You have the repeated behaviors even though you use consequences and it's not working. If it's a minor stress behavior, basically we we do a lot of the same stuff only we start with making sure your kids regulated. So you as we save Milnik would say connect before you correct. Um so you make sure the kids regulated and then you can work through better understanding it and often that is a part of regulating uh through problem solving conversation. Then we impose the consequence. After that we fill out the log. Um if we need assistance from our social emotional team or the administrative team, they get called and then we work through
102that. Um adding on to kind of a different layer that's really looking at the trauma or skills-based lens uh for behaviors. If it is already a major behavior, they call teacher would call the office for immediate assistance or the support team depending on if it's a stress behavior or just a regular behavior. Um I shouldn't say behavior. Then they fill out the book the form then the administrator imposes the consequences and again we use that check that log sheet about we look it up. I'm telling her, hey Christine, here's the behavior. We're like where is it in matrix? and we talk through that. Um after that they we call home. We work with a social emotional team to determine what our triggers might be, lagging skills might be. Have a collaborative problem solving conversation with
103the student and then follow up with staff. Um couple of major key ideas behind consequences that are in our matrix. So I mentioned the three loss of privilege, time out or time away from class, restorative practices is an option for some situations or repairs, restitution. Sometimes you create individualized instruction around that. You might need some direct instruction around something. You might do an accountability project or fix it plan, cyber problem solving conversations, redirection. Sometimes there's detentions and suspensions and parent content, especially if it's major or repeated envir um comes up a lot um that's in policy. We we we give lunch restrictions as a consequence and and we cannot take away recess because that's in our wellness policy. um and and nor do we want to take away an entire recess, but sometimes uh I'll
104reframe this. If the infraction happens at recess, you can take some time away from a student um at recess. But if something happens during the day, um administrators are not allowed to take time from recess. And sometimes um five minutes from recess has a much larger impact than than a lunch restriction. So, just something to consider. I think under our last policy before it was updated, administrators had the leeway to be able to take a few minutes from a student. I think that's not in the new policy. It's the law and it's it's in statute. It's in statute. Recess actually. Is it is it uh any part of recess? So, we used to be able to take five minutes or you know to have like talk it through. this is what happened. This is the,
105you know, what happens when you, this is the consequence for your action. Um, and I know we haven't been able to do that. Um, and since the policy, the new policy was adopted, but if it's in statute, it's we can't do anything about it. Yeah, I know it's in statute. I cannot cite this statute. Okay. Okay. And that's unless it's in offense gerine to recess or happen right before recess and you don't feel like them going to recess option. Sure. But it's not Yeah. It's not kind of like something. Yeah. Got it. So that middle one is about the he's bullying which we'll take on the next page. Essentially when we get something at the administrative level that we need to consider, we take a look at it. um staff fill out a form, give
106it to us, then we have to consider whether or not it might be a violation of the policy. And if it might be a violation of the policy and Oh, you're already on that page. Oh, yeah. Sorry. That's okay. Sorry. Um so if that's the case then we contact parents and we have to assign a designated investigator for that and supportive measures get put in place at that time. Once we open an HHB investigation we cannot impose consequences immediately because that um violates due process. So anytime you open an HHB case you have to wait until it's finished before you impose any consequences. So what you do to one you must do to all. So if you say for example um this event happened between two kids and you can't say you have to stay
107over here and you can do whatever you want. You have to tell both of them the same thing. So you both have to stay x amount of distance apart for x amount of time until we complete this and then post. Um, and then once it we have five days to complete the interviews. We have one day, sorry, I should have said that. We have one day to determine whether or not it might uh be a violation. Then we have five days to complete the interviews and then we have five days from that to present a report. Um, once the case is substantiated or not, we then communicate that out to the families and we put um consequences and a safety call. So, um, who to whom does the report go? So, any staff who hears
108about it, we have a template from the, um, student conduct form gets filled out. Student conduct form on one side says, you fill this out, you give the information on flip side to turn it into the administrator. So the administrator then gets that report and has to then decide within that day like school day or school day whether or not um it might violate the policy at which point then from there they assign the investigator and but the investigator is not the person who decides whether so it at the b at the end of the investigation there is a recommendation like the one of the last steps is the recommendation. So this investigator um believes that this does or does not because it Yeah. But her question is does the administrator investigate? It depends. Yeah.
109So it it's depends on a kid's comfort level, who they're comfortable with, what um kind of work relationships or outside of conflict. we try to make the best decision to get the information that that we need to to move forward. Um, so I thought that you'd ask her a question who gets the report which was talking about like at the end like so that you know the five days to do this the five days to do that. So there's the gathering information then you decide to open and then there could be um at that point then you could say I have these interviews right and then you keep notes on interviews who's in the room who's there and um I might say to Tristy can we tag team one and can you be the determiner
110at the end she would get all that information and she would um make a determination and we would follow up with whatever the consequences are the um restorative peace would be. But when it goes to a a parent, the people um that were involved, the family that were involved, they get all the information that says, you know, this was this is what we sold, this is what we found out. mean the HHB part, like the ones that rise to the level of an HB, they're usually a little bit clearer. Um, because this is miss it's a timeline that then doesn't feel doesn't feel good because you're talking five days do this, five days do that. You could have a student that's you could have a school break. You can do so you can have an
111event happen in September and it doesn't get wrapped up until October November just on like the timeline and things that step in. Um I don't know. I had gone back and forth with Christine about asking the board for an executive especially on my experience you know as a parent as an HHB and the timeline and and Christina said you know they're working that is working but you know that this process is there's a committee meeting there's a committee meeting they've met once I think so far and what I've heard Elizabeth might know more based on look on her face there the policy uh needs to be re the policy needs be rewritten. Is that what you're hearing? Uh the there is a um there's a committee um and uh the way that it's currently um
112laid out is that the committee is run by or the agenda for The committee is uh instigated by the secretary of education who for the purpose of this year has uh called for only four meetings one hour each quarter to discuss title N. That is it. Title N, not not um HHB. Well, it's the HHB um task force or committee or whatever. Yeah. Advisory. [Music] Um we are trying to desperately to get through a bill that uh changes the makeup of the advisory committee and also uh who sets the agenda for it and uh the number of meetings that are called for and all that stuff and to retool the actual HHP uh the policy policy. Yeah. Uh but it's um at the moment it's a it's a go truly mess. Yeah, it's not not
113moving very quickly from what I've heard at all. But no, because they have this huge transformational Yeah. bill that they've had to get through. So they haven't they did take testimony on there their companion bills in the House and Senate and they have taken testimony in the House on the uh it's H130 is the number of the bill and uh any pressure that you feel like putting on either of those committees to take it up. Okay, always appreciated. Um, but they've taken testimony on it. Uh, and they took testimony on it after crossover, but, uh, they probably won't get addressed this session, but um, with public pressure, they could pick it up next session and Okay. fix it. Okay. So, okay. Um let me uh this is still you Jennifer right? Yeah. So this just
114shows an example of we were asked maybe to think about how we wanted to share out data. So this is example of what we think we might be sharing out. So this would be April of last year to April of this year's. What's MBA? That is the uh powers school system. It's a plugin. That's where staff log behaviors. So they will go in and they will the student name, time of day, where it happened, what the incident was. They will log what their response was to the infraction, and then they can put in that they want administrative support, and the administrator can respond in the system with um what they've what they with the followup. So it's hard to see. You might want to talk about it a little bit. trying to see. But I
115wonder whether there's something a a way to just take super simple like put a super simple button on our school to um just log incidents of this is a thing that I'm trying to work here at high school, right? Because we we have a lot going on. Yeah. And we have equity tickets which I've publicly said before. You know, I was always like how are we going to address this behavior? age. This is the best thing ever happened to us because we're getting so much information. Yeah. So quickly because the process of logage powers school is removed, right? And it's open to the public. You know, children can do it, parents can do it. It gives us a lot of information and data to make changes. Um so when someone makes an equity ticket, that's
116not necessarily going into the year. Not not every time. Sometimes sometimes, but not every time. Y so now we already have two things working and then at the high school side we have some like minor high school things right that are a little bit more difficult cell phones being one and students coming late to class or cutting class or leaving class so those just so we can get that information are currently allowed to make it easier for the teachers because they can't do are just currently locked on a spreadsheet Dennis is here that Dennis and I have access to that and we worked out a system for how the cell phones are addressed and now we're working on a system on how um the time out of class late is those things are are going
117to be addressed. So right now I have four documents going that are getting me information and I've been actively talking to Tracy about like we have to come up with a and I think by the end of the day and I said I know I have to get all those into power school right I'm not okay I'm not going to put that on my staff I don't I don't have that would fall under them but I I have it on my calendar that I have to get all those in there and I I will but I would love your idea of like this magic wand power school but I've tried every which way to find it because doesn't exist. I have created this this year and it's not but this system that we've implemented this
118is I think our third year using MBA and staff are using it. I mean Jennifer shared earlier you know we have some work to do on consistency but it is a data collection system that's working for us. It does take time but we can pull reports. This is just an example of last year in April to this year in April. And if you could see it um which you can but I'll sh share this out um every category. So defiance is the first graph we had last April 32 incidences of defiance. This April we've had 17. This interject just it's really hard to see on this but the the top line on 24 is 50 and the top line on 25 is 30. So that they look like they're comparable graphs but it's actually much
119lower in the second year. Yes. every every one of the incidents is much lower I think except maybe one I can't remember which one so um and and we were just in a webinar with powers school I don't know yesterday I can't remember a couple days looking at how to run there there are more reports that we can run that we didn't know we could run so we're we're learning about that as well so it is a valuable system for showing our our progress um it it is yeah it does take time not going to sugarcoat that but Can you just read the what's the category there? Yep. So the first column there is defiance and it that's decreased and this is for what grades? This is the whole this is Mount Scutney school district.
120I did the whole district just to get a snapshot. Um disrespect is the second category. The third category is is disruption. The next one is physical contact. The next one is property um misuse or damage. Then cell phone violation on the bottom one. We've got a tech violation that we didn't have on the top row. Um tardy uh out of bounds. So if you leave school ma the m in front of it is major. So this is major defiance, major disrespect, major disruption, major major physical aggression, major sexual misconduct, major verbal threat. So all those majors involve um our administration. the minors uh teachers handle until they become a major. If they're repeated over time, become a major than administration or our behavior response team. And it looks different in all our schools, the resources
121that we have. So, um you know, the the goal is we have social emotional interventionists that will help respond, but when we're short staffed, those SEIs get assigned to students as one-on-one um support staff. So it's it's yeah they get pulled. So it's a work in progress. Um for sure. So a couple things like um the said something interesting about the button said the magic button. Um we're having some things in this document. So, we're asking when we have this tutorial for like some things that make it easier and and requiring some things to like absolutely happen. So, you just said like when it's a three and then fourth one it'll turn into a major like something like that's not automatic. So that would be a nice automatic button so that if a teacher put
122in three minors that the next time they go or any teacher goes it automatically changes to a major. So things like auto automated are are much nicer. Like Christine said making sure that teacher has their space to put in a required action of what they did so that it's documented. Like some of those required buttons that you'd have in a Google form are not all here yet. So there's definitely conversations we're having with MBA to make that easier. But to Kate's point, like having four separate documents is hard, but there's also different like feedback you get from each one. And a comfort level of certain people who are like, I really feel comfortable with this document. I feel like it's clear. I feel like I'm getting the point across. So when I think of staff
123using products and things we do, you're also doing the same thing we do for students. We're trying to meet them where they're at and what works best for them. So it's hard and I I talk about this from a high school perspective and I I mean I don't want to talk about this all night long, but I could, right? Oh yeah, I go on and on and on about this. There's lots of things that like the reason we switch to spreadsheets is because cell phones are a problem, right? Well, I wanted to be a principal. I didn't know I was going to do it on cell phones and social social media. So, there were no problem that we're trying to just get beat up so we can figure out a solution. On the flip side
124of class time in class and students coming later or cutting class, we've taken away as we move to proficiencies, right? Grades are not tied towards seat time, right? So, that's no longer well I well I'm it's urgent for me to be there. I can still flash my class without go. So now we're attacking that data just trying to get it right. And the easiest way to get it is to make less barriers for the teachers to get that information to me. So once we have this on the spreadsheets this year, we're going to have to make an adjustment of how that goes into there, how we report it moving forward and what specific consequences we can address. Um, but to Colleen's point, you know, when something goes in there three times and it's a and
125then it flips to a a major on elementary side, we're dealing with one teacher, right? Who's consistent in in what they're what their expectations are in a classroom and and in high school, you might see seven teachers a day who don't necessarily have the time to connect. We try to make that time on Tuesdays, but just being able to to me like a huge first step has been the equity tickets, has been the spreadsheets. Now we can bring this data to the staff and start these conversations um for what we can bring forward next year in terms of expectations updating our code of conduct. I'm I'm I'm an elementary teacher, right? That that is where I started and there are lots of good things that happened on the elementary side that get thrown out the
126window in in high school that I that I want to bring back in terms of like these are our classroom norms, these are our expectations. It's not all about content and we have a we have a phenomenal staff that is willing able and wants to do this with us. So, I don't know. And just to to reinforce, you mentioned this a while ago, but it sounds like even though there are all of these different entry points for data, it's all being collated into the same spot, right? In MBA, that's it will be it will. It's Kate's giving her staff a shortcut and we'll enter it. Got a comment over here. Sure. I'm a bad boy. Um, the biggest thing I have a plan of attending high school and the biggest thing I had students is
127that it's not consistent. Um, and you know, I'm going to say some things that you probably some of you I was young for 35 years. Um, and really and I I disagree with that basically black and white, you know, there are no um there are extenduating circumstances in every case, but the result is the choice was made. And so the choice was made and so it has to be right this choice for this. This is what's going to happen. Right. When you bring circumstances into it, that's when you start to lose a consistency. Um, in a matrix and this has been bothering me for years and I don't mean to be disrespectful to every matrix, but there are two ways and sometimes I've been president. There's a book in there that it chews me up
128because it says these are all consequences assigned that's going to be different for everybody based on their value system based on their relationship with the student based on their understanding with the student situation. and I reject the situation and those consequences are not consistent as a result of that. Um you know there has to be um something also and I think about trainings you know so that's also really what your philosophy you want to follow the god for me theoretically the god for me is way philosopher reality therapy and control theory Um and basically is yes you may at age two and that's a sad thing and that's why um you are children at this moment behaving regardless of what happened when you were two years old. Uh and so that philosophy um you know
129kind of eliminates the exec 35 years ago. You know, it really is consistent across the board. It becomes so much more understandable and you have a lot less problem because of that consistency. And I was a public A lot of progress on the cell phone. consistent across I appreciate Sure. Thanks. Just to follow up on that one, um so my name is Matt Frederick. I'm West. Um I couldn't agree with that more strongly. Um that that really is the crux of my partic circumstances. There there always are, right? But when it comes to discipline, it really is black and white. The students have to know if I do this, this is going to happen. And mostly that relates to in the classroom because extenduating circumstances can be tackled outside of it. When it comes to
130the classroom, there are are expectations that have to be followed because all of the other students are trying to learn, right? They're trying to be safe. So that has to be first and foremost. The offending student can be addressed outside the classroom by trained professionals, SEI, whoever else has to to deal with it. But it has to be black and white in the classroom because that discipline is what allows the teachers to teach and not have to be parents in the classroom because they they don't have time for that. Like there isn't enough. So, I I hope that that was captured well enough on Zoom um or on Google Meets because I I feel like that really is the crux of where all of this falls apart. Thank you. Yep. It's real quick. I think
131you have to decide. Those are two totally different things, you know. Maybe now becoming more and Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. Next. You good? Uh, yeah. Okay. All right. Tracy's going to take over. Yeah. Um, so I think we're going to show you a lot of words and then I promise you we're going to show you what it looks like in time. Right. So when we left the last meeting and I I do want to say like there's some things we've added to this after the conversations but a lot of the foundation has been here and we're just just trying to share it out with you um now. So um we're looking for an increase in communication from families and to the board so that you're aware. We talked about sharing the behavior matrix. Um,
132we have the idea of a of a caregiver informational night where they come in and we kind of go through this with them. Um, what will that attendance look like? I don't know. We'll probably have to make it a community dinner or something to draw people in so that they they understand this information as well. Um, we talked about adding like a school climate as part of newsletters so that information is regularly going out to families on what we're focusing on. um sharing the reports with um staff in newsletters and with the board on a regular on a regular basis. Um looking talking with the teachers about guidelines for communication making sure that those minor behaviors are commuted out communicated to the um families from the teachers. So increasing that and then administrators communicating all
133the major behaviors um which which we do now um but I think communicating the minors will help as well. We also have ongoing work to do with staff students. Um the staff will present the behavior matrix um to all staff um during inservice days and I I'll show you this in the timeline. Uh regular review of behavior expectations with the staff and um those are things that we go over regularly when something's kind of bubbling in one of the schools. We we address that as you know this is this is really um kind of a hot topic right now. also, you know, the MBA system or the power school system. Just this last Thursday, um, we go over how to consistently report, you know, at the elementary school that is the teachers that are putting
134it in. We noticed in the in the MBA system that there were things that when it got reported, it didn't show to the teachers. So, we've been working with them about how to make sure it's all communicated clearly and then how to make sure staff are doing it in a way, entering it in a way that it gives us the information we need and the right people know the actions that they have to take. Um, reviewing data with staff, right? Not just with sharing it with you, but making sure that the staff see the the monthly behavior data so we can target problem areas. making sure our support staff are well trained in some deescalation and then um working on the restorative practices work at the high school. We have some new positions going in
135um having all staff trained in HHB dedicating time at staff meeting and then um administrators developing a school culture survey to all staff fall, winter and spring and then um measure the MRA which we already administer. We're in the process of administering right now, but reporting those results out as well. So, some new um students, we already do September and January assemblies, like reminding them of behavior expectations. I think that's more common probably on an elementary side. We have those regular morning meetings and access to them, but we'll do that across the school. Um making sure that there's assemblies that focus on nazing, harassment, and bullying. Um, we have a student led initiative and some trainers where two students in our school are going to be trained and then they're going to come back and
136present to all of you. They already did last month. We're ahead of the game. Um, yeah. And then um the school culture surveys that go out um and reporting that back. How does the family and the staff feel about um students feel about the culture and the climate of the schools? I'm going back a slide. Sure. Oh no. Uh, yeah. Oh, training facilitated by Tracy Grace. That's already scheduled. Yeah, that's already scheduled. That's scheduled. She may She's trying to bring in um big, I think. Okay. To do that training. Yeah. With the staff, the full staff. And can you go back one more? Yep. No, one more. One more. I still think that uh I've I've said this before. I've said it before, I'll say it again. I still think that we should just have
137a community conversation about it or there's no panel. There's no necessarily agenda but we adults can actually just uh talk about the bullying and the impact of bullying and the uh uh like talk to each other as parents. I I know that we've uh we've tried before having middle school parents and nobody came. Nobody came. Um uh but I do think that if we presented it to the public the right way that um we could get parents interested. Can I say something? Yeah. I was like the presenter of like how can I help? How can I I do my part? Right. Because there's a lot of things that fall in the school on a a Monday morning that in my world, I don't know, like probably in elementary and middle school that happened over a
138weekend of what someone liked or what someone clicked or what someone shared, right? And and even uh so like how how can we help be supportive to to all of us and social media is a problem. This is a huge problem and most of the things that we have come through the high school in terms of bullying have a social media aspect, right? And now there's just a couple things I would that I would like that I think that we should have conversations about like how how can we all help these kids because I think that they're going to look back one day and know like like we know now like if how could my parents have not known that smoking was bad for them, right? How how could they have not known that? like
139how come they have smoke? Sorry, mom. Um, and I think these kids are going to look back and say, how how could these adults have not known that these cell phones and the social media was bad for us, right? How could they have not peaked in a stand for it? And the other thing that, you know, that I would like to talk about as a community and and you know, good support on and such an easy an easy one for me to use is culpability. Right? You're in the bathroom, you're sitting in a circle, one person that thing has a beach. So much time is spent figuring out who had the vape, who actually touched it, how it got passed around, and also I want to bring, you know, talk about that code of conduct
140and and talk about and and I I I love to have parents here saying, you know, that that feel supportive and we do have that. We just need it with communication because there are a lot of people, this is your child, right? So, when you when you're afraid for your child, your first response is also, well, did they have the baby in their hand? I I don't know. Not in the bathroom. I'm not going to be able to, you know, I'm not going to be able to prove, but but they were there. I want I want to worry less about getting people in trouble, right? Because that's what everyone's afraid of. And I want to worry more about how we can work together to address the things that are harming our children, including cell phones,
141social media, paid. I think these are these are both good thoughts that are totally dera what we're talking about. Now, um, the next agenda item is communication, and that's totally part of what I wanted to touch on probably briefly because it's going on for a while, but I appreciate you both bringing that up. We'll get to, um, where were you, Trace? I know. Sorry. That's I know it's great. Great questions. I think it was work with students, right? So, assemblies to focus on these behaviors um, the bystander training that took place, students and teachers creating mission statements in the classrooms and their norms. um which you know extending that to the high school as well. And then um the culture the culture surveys and then for us you know as administrators it's um being really
142up todate with the HHB training and you know I feel really lucky to have partners in the school where we can help each other know better and feel more confident. Um, but we need to to do that together, that work all together. Um, shifting some of the oversight to the um to the to Tracy Price um to help be that first filter for us. Um, sharing creating a system for sharing data, his surveys, we talked about presentations for students and staff about behavior expectations and consequences. Um, you know, holding staff accountable for communicating with families. I think, you know, at the elementary side, distinguishing between major and minor is really different for us. And I think there are things I'm asked to do that really are minor classroom practices that teach I need teachers to
143take on. And then I do think there are major things sometimes that they take on that they need to shift to me. So sorting those out and and getting in sync with each other about how to do that. And then um just creating a plan to support the teaching staff. And those are a lot of words, but what I really want to show you is how we're going to do it and when we're going to do it because I think um it's easy to say we're going to do this, but we spent some time thinking about when and how. So when we say to you, we're going to report things three times a year and and do they get this digitally? Do they have all this information? Because that's so tiny. I can't read a
144thing up there. But that showing you when we're going to do it, right? and mapping it out so that we can all help hold each other accountable. And um you can see like it starts in August. We're already thinking about that training. We've already reached out to um to find out when the HHB training is happening next year and how can we get on, you know, get every people signed up. Can you make it this year? Quite honestly, that it took place on the first day of school. You can imagine how convenient that is for any of us to attend that kind of a training. So, um, I get, you know, I can we can share the timeline with you, but just to show you kind of what we've already done and thought about. Um,
145some of these are things we already do, but, um, just kind of mapping out the commitment we have to to doing it in a way that shows you that, not just not just tell you that we're going to do that. And this this whole presentation will go in the in the back. Okay, let me stop sharing. All right. Okay. Back to you, Davis. Yep. Well, I appreciate all of the uh the time and effort that you all spent putting that together um and and beginning the process of, you know, clarifying, communicating some of these things. Um I'll I will also go and take a look at the timeline when it's uh easier to read. Yeah. But uh yeah, unless there are any other comments from board members or or community um move on. So, listen.
146Yeah, I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to say, but I do have this behavior response overview printed out. Um, and I just have a lot of issues with it. Um, and I just, you know, just looking at it, I can see a lot of problems and I can see how this philosophy contributed to the issues my daughter had where it escalated to HHV where then HHV escalated to her leaving. Um, you know, like one of the things that really strikes me on here, I'm trying to find it. Um, where it basically says we're moving away from a zero tolerance philosophy. And I think that that is a huge mistake when especially when you're talking about bullying, when you're talking about racism, when you're talking about, you know, anything that falls under HH. um that's
147really concerning to me as a parent. Um the other thing I'm just trying to be fast that's why it feels forceful. Um, the other thing that is a little frustrating to me to see is, um, and I'm hearing you all talk about it, and it's it's something I think I'm going to disagree with Elizabeth on too, is that you're talking about, um, tailoring the response to each student based on like their trauma history, their socioeconomic status, things like that. Um, and number one, that's really really confusing to other students. Um, it's especially been confusing to students like my daughter who's autistic who is like, I need to know the rules and I need to know the consequences, right? And to be in a classroom and see like this person does this and they get in
148trouble. This person does it and they don't get in trouble. And like it's just all really confusing and it causes chaos. Um, and I do feel like that in our HHB situation that also got applied in a way. I mean, the student that was holding my daughter also had discipline. Um, and I feel like that contributed to the response or the lack of response to the unwillingness to expel the student. Um, so I just think that like I would just ask the board to just revisit the philosophy behind this. I think it's really flawed. Um, I think it's causing a lot of problems. Um, I also am looking at, you know, we're determining consequences based on the students age, identity, uh, culture, traumas, etc. And that just feels like we're holding kids to different standards.
149Um, and it feels like that's doing a disservice to the child who is being held to a lesser standard. Like as if saying, oh, they've experienced trauma, so they're not capable of reaching the same level of, you know, behavior as the other kids in the class. Um, you know, I I've been doing a lot of reading about this and um, you know, watching videos by principles and things like that who have talked about how you really get the behavior that you demand in a school and if your behavior if you're you have inconsistent behavioral expectations based on where the kid is coming from, those kids don't have a chance to reach that level. um and you're you're not getting the best out of all of your students. Um, so it's it's just kind of concerning
150to me and I just feel like there's a lot that teachers are asked to do and deal with in the classroom that you know like the focus of all these behavior policies are on behavior student like how do we help the behavior student you know reach this you know be able to behave right um what are all the supports we can give them and I think that's awesome and I think it should happen outside of the classroom because all these other students that are there to learn um are missing out of class time and they're you know being traumatized in some cases by these other students behavioral issues. Um so you know I just wish there was more focus on consistency and on the kids that are going to school and behaving and following the
151rules and meeting the rules like meeting the structure. Um and that includes child students. Um, I want to say I don't want to take time, but there's also a lot in the student conduct discipline um policy that isn't being followed. Um, and the other the other thing real quick that I noticed was that, you know, in our policy it says we can expel students and last at last meeting um the PowerPoint didn't include expulsion as an option. Um, I had teachers at Albert Bridge tell me that they're not allowed to expel a student. I had a teacher from Windsor tell me that the training has been inconsistent um for HHP and that they learned more conference than they did four years of the school. Um, I've been hearing a lot of things from people. So,
152it feels like the adults in the school don't even really know like what is going on. Um, and the kids don't know what's going on. So, just some thoughts. No, I appreciate the input on that. And, um, I think those are all things we can, you know, consider as we continue to work on this plan and, uh, improve the matrix and, uh, communicate this to folks in the coming year. Also, it's not legal. I mean, I I don't know whether this is what you were talking about or not, but it's not legal to expel a student eight years. Any other board thoughts, comments for uh Bill? No, I'm just I'm just trying to piece things together here. I'm only getting about half of what people are saying. So, yeah, I do apologize to folks online.
153I know that our our technical um limitations tonight are making it hard to hear um public comment and probably some of the further offboard comment, but um I'm script notes so we can capture stuff in the minutes. Yeah. Um well, if people can um turn their cameras on when they're talking, at least some of us could lipre. All right. Not to Bill. All right. If there's no further comment on that, and I I appreciate us taking taking the time that we needed on that. Um, and like I said, that's all going to be out in our packet so we can review that. Um, and I look forward to seeing that timeline uh be implemented and seeing uh this lands and hopefully be able to attend uh one of the sessions and just see how this
154is communicated. But uh thanks for your commentary and thanks for all the work that uh folks have done on this. Uh, moving on to item C, which um, like I said, we touched on a little bit earlier, that's communication. Um, I think given the time that we have been here, I'm not going to spend too much time on that, but I did want to bring it up because it's something that kind of comes up in tandem with I mean with the sort of discipline behavior issue, but it also it touches on everything that we do. Um, I don't think that there's been a year where I have not kind of been the squeaky wheel about saying like, hey, how are we communicating? Are we using all the channels that we have as well as we
155can be? Are people regardless of what we feel like we're doing? Are people actually getting informed, knowing what's going on in a in a reasonable, timely fashion? Um and and and what else can we do? You know, we need to think outside the box and this stuff because um it's a constantly changing information environment. Um and I know that people get I can speak from my own experience. I mean, I get so many newsletters and just like giant info blasts with pages and pages and pages of text. Like, it it kind of becomes white noise. So, I one thing I just want us to be thinking about um especially going into our retreat this summer, I'd like to spend some more substantial time on that just like brainstorm a little bit like what what can
156we do that we're not already doing? Uh and how can we improve our current communication practices? Um, one thing that I'll throw out there, um, and this came from our last meeting, getting some more folks involved, but I think the more formal and kind of planned communication we can have with our PTO and SEIP groups is really good. uh making sure that we're really utilizing utilizing those, you know, parent and community groups that are that are talking about a lot of the same things that have a lot of the concerns that we have and make sure there's like two-way communication happening between uh you know, administrators and school board and teachers and what have you and those groups. Um I think uh you know when I joined the board during COVID it felt like there
157wasn't a ton of activity there and there were a lot of sort of other considerations going on but now that we're in this state where these groups that are getting together and are more active and I'm sort of starting to like make connections and talking to people I want to make sure that we're formalizing some of that. Um that's just one idea. I think there's going to be a lot of other ideas but I wanted to kind of just put that that seed in all your minds um to think about. Um, I think that we can do some more. Um, and as far as getting ourselves out there, too. So, Liz, um, just a suggestion. So, I'm on Skip. Um, and one of the things we talked about under communication was trying to connect Skip
158to the Windsor PTO groups. Um, none of us have connection there. None of us know who who is there. Um, and I think part of the reason you guys have heard a lot from ground school parents um, in recent weeks is because um, Davis, you reached out to Skip and Skip has been talking about all this. Um, I think every member of Skip watched the last board meeting. Sure. Um, but we don't know if that's happening in the the Windsor side. Um, and I think, you know, everyone feels like it would be really beneficial, especially with our kids moving over to get to know parents who live through PTO. Um, so I think it would be really nice to have a way to connect the two. Um, whether it's an event, whether it's just an
159email communication that includes everyone. Sure. Yeah, I appreciate that comment, Liz. And, uh, I I will say I I the information that went out to Skip also went out to Windsor PGO. Um, Skip was more responsive to it. Um, I know that Windsor PTO is is active and doing, you know, I see evidence of that when I come into these buildings, but um, I think that that would be a great connection to make. I think connecting those two groups a little bit out of our scope, but I would I would love to see it happen. And in so far, if we can inform everyone, um, that'd be great. I'm always always happy to help make connections. strong relationship with Amanda who reaches out when they need something. Um, in terms of getting information out to
160parents here looking for I get communication to help. Yeah. Um, I'll be happy to make any. Awesome. No, I appreciate that. Great. Yeah. Like I said, we're not gonna spend a ton of time on that if there's not any action. want to kind of start our our years turning on that because I think uh really every year going into our retreat we should be thinking about looking at our our current state of communication and thinking of ways that we can improve it because again it's a it's a moving target. Um and we gota we need to stay on top of it. All right. Any any last comments, thoughts from folks. Cool. All right. Uh last but not least, we have summer scheduling. So, I think I emailed you. Um, there was a we had planned
161on June 9th for the board retreat, but that's the last week of school. So, we were thinking of moving it to the following Monday, which would be the 16th of June. Yeah. Did we I think we made that change. Did we make the change? Is the 16th confirmed? Uh, it's on my It's on my calendar. Confirmed. Yeah. Yep. It's all Yep. It's also on my It's also on my calendar. So, I think it was the July. Yeah, July meeting. You know what? It's okay. Double and triple check these things. No, it's not changing the work. I'm going to change in the work plan. So, that's where it didn't get changed. I'll do that now. Okay. So, it's um July. Are we meeting in July or are we not meeting in July? Oh, um I think
162I don't know. We don't have anything right now in July. I think our next meeting or only summer meeting is in August. Um, I mean, I'll throw I think I threw this out there in years past. I'm I'm happy to meet in July. Um, with the expectation that I mean, I don't expect administrators to be there if the board wants to judge them. I know that you all are having kind of your own time in the summer and if that's an opportunity for the board to get together and just do a quick check-in or you know I'm okay meeting but having a little bit less onus on folks to like you know cancel plans and that stuff. Why don't we decide at the um retreat whether we need to do it because we might there
163might be things that we just as a board with no administrators want to follow up with it discussion wise. Yeah. What do you think? No, absolutely. Yeah. And I think we have to decide on that tonight. I think that the uh the retreat would be a good time to decide that. And there's certainly there's like internal board and admin stuff that we can work on, projects that we can do that um you know we don't necessarily need the entire extended there to to put some time into. So but yeah, we can definitely address that at the retreat. Where where is the retreat? It says okay. Do you um It says in person only. In person only. ABS. Um, sometimes we do uh dinner. We have our um kitchen staff bring it. Some boards do potluck.
164If you want, what would you like to do? I would It would be good if we could just have the kitchen staff do it. I'm only thinking that because we already are signed up for two potluck events. Okay. I just need to communicate so I can That would be Yeah, that would be really great. I think if we were only doing one of those, I'd be more willing to, but that's okay. potlucks in the board within few months. On the other hand, the potluck events that you're talking about are feeding a whole bunch of people. This is true. And this is just six, eight, 10 people. Yeah, this will be good. I can I'll ask them. Yeah, I think we're all balanced. Yeah, I think I think for us we could just have cookies. Yeah,
165maybe I'll do whatever you want. Let's do How about this? Let's do bread together and have a meal. I will reach out to uh Awesome. And maybe we can do maybe do a little like a dessert if people want to bring like cookies or something. I think that's a good way to kind Yeah. Okay. All the difference differences that people like for desserts, too. Yeah. I think that's a good So, you and I will meet work on the agenda. Does that sound okay? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Great. All right. I think is that it for summer scheduling? Yep. Cool. Planning. All right. So, uh, that will bring us to setting the next agenda that is going to be for that's the retreat. So, Christine, you and I will talk about our retreat plan, get that
166out to folks. Yep. Um, um, I'll email you a date when you can meet. Excellent. Prior to that, okay? Yep. Sounds good. Um, yeah. And the only thing that I mean, we know we'll be on that is the communication stuff. Yep. It's funny. I say that and I think it's like two months away, but it's like, yeah, June is really soon in a month. I got to write a graduation speech, you know. Yeah, you do. All right. All right. Um, so, uh, executive session. No need for executive session. No. Cool. Uh, in that case, uh, I will take one question. What's that? Oh, that's okay. Never mind. All right. All right. Since we don't have executive session, I will take a motion to adjurnn. Second. Second. All right. All those in favor say I. I.
167Opposed. I. I know that you met Bill. All right. So, we are adjourning this meeting at 9:09 p.m. And yeah, thanks everyone for all your stuff. cardio.