MASD Board Meeting @ ABS - April 7th, 2025

001All right. Are we recording? We are. Excellent. Okay. Uh, so I'm going to call to order uh this meeting of the Scott County School District Board on today uh Monday the 7th at 6:31 p.m. And our first item of business is going to be uh changes or additions to the agenda. Um, and I do have one change now. Um, we're going to be moving item C. We're going to be swapping item C and item B. So, prior to the conversation on bullying, we're going to be reviewing the YRBS data. Um, and I think we're also Is there some of that in the administrative report, too, or No, it's a separate that's a separate thing. Okay. Yeah. So, it's going to go field trip approval, YRBS data, bullying, and then the rest of the agenda is

002going to be the same. All right. Any other changes or additions? All right. So, next up we have approval of the minutes from March 10th, 2025. I'm just going to pull those up [Music] here. Where they at? Okay. So I will uh take a motion to accept the uh minutes from March 10th, 2025. So moved. Second. All right. Any discussion? This is reorganization. So it's all just the things that happen during reorganization and then a couple other items. Yep. I'm not seeing the changes. No. All right. So, since there's no more comments or changes, um I will do a um See, we have anybody else online right now? Elizabeth. Elizabeth's here, too. Have we seen Bill yet? Okay. Um so, I will call a simple voice vote to approve the minutes. All those in favor

003of approving the minutes from March 10, 2025, please say I. I. I thought you don't know what I think Amy is saying I up there. Is that correct? Okay. Yep. Why is it uh any opposed? Abstensions. Okay. The eyes have it. So those minutes are approved unanimously minus bill. All right. Next on the agenda is public comment on non-aggenda items or any announcements anyone might have. Um so I'm just going to read. I appreciate that we have a lot of folks here tonight. someone to read the longer version of this. Um, so public comment is not legally required. 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 our students how to conduct public discourse and that the board and

004members of our community can approach controversial issues in a civil and constructive manner and can demonstrate mutual respect. Having said that, please note that the board is here to listen. The public comment period is not designed for discussion. And you can start by identifying yourself, what town you reside in, and please limit your remarks to three minutes. And let's see what else we have. Um, so we'll insist that all speakers and members of the audience maintain civility and respect with any diverent views that others possess. Likewise, you may expect that any restrictions will be viewpoint neutral. And please do not expect the board to respond to your questions and comments tonight. We take your concerns seriously and want to have sufficient time to process and research issues if need requires it. If there seems to

005be an issue that ought to be followed up on, we may respond at the future meeting or have an appropriate staff member get back to you at an appropriate time. U the one caveat to that that I'll say is that if there's like a very simpleformational question that comes up, we'll we'll respond real time. It's just, you know, we're not going to have a a drawn out conversation in that setting. All right. So, this is public comment for any items that are not on the agenda or any announcements. Ashley. Ashley. Oh, Ashley. Good evening. My name is Ashley Rich. I reside in Windsor, Vermont. Um, I have two students that attend Windsor school. One who is in fourth grade, uh, and one who is a freshman in high school. Uh, I continue to I've reached

006out to some members of the board as well as administration. I also felt the need that some of this needs to become more public um and not just via email so that it can be seen. Uh the first that I'm going to say is that oh I want I don't know maybe a month and a half ago or a month ago uh I wrote an email to the board over concerns over um the unwelcoming atmosphere within the elementary school um in particular around administration. was told that you would be working on things and within two weeks after that email uh it was clear that no constructive criticism um or feedback was taken or absorbed. So that's the first one. Um I will gladly talk with people about that separately. Um the second is regarding my

007concern that Mount Scuttney School District and School Board is not taking school safety appropriately. um not necessarily on a bullying level so much as an atmosphere. Um in particular, I have my freshman in high school who is coming home and sending me messages in a panic from school over um overall the the negative and disrespectful and to be honest unsafe atmosphere that is in the high school. Um, again, I really want this to be in a public setting and not just swept under the rug with emails. Um, I'm getting daily reports that kids are using the N-word, the Rword, um, using Nazi salutes, throwing things at them, smirking, it's happening when people are seeing it, when people aren't. While I appreciate that Kate Ryan is trying to take steps, it is not enough. And it's

008not enough just to put your DEI person on it. That isn't effective. Um, I had to teach my educate my 14-year-old daughter about sex toys a couple of weeks ago. Um, that was not on my parenting bingo card of things that I thought I would have to talk with my 14-year-old daughter about. Um, I have some really grave concerns over the damage that this is that this is providing and giving to my daughter. Um, and I keep hearing we'll work on it. We have such and such in place, but I'm telling you it's not enough. Um, I've seen a big shift in school culture when taking on leader in me. I urge administration and the school board to revisiting that. Um the shift since taking on leader in me has been incredibly negative. It does

009not appear that the values are being met in the middle. Values don't seem to be matching up or taken seriously by administration, families, and students. I'm really frustrated about this and especially when WCX does a wonderful piece on what's happening in the elementary school on one side, but there's also a darker side that's going on in Windsor High School and even within Windsor school in the elementary side. Um, I'm urging other people to look into this as well. The optics for Windsor Windsor school are great. Your sports teams on point. your public relations on point, but it's also covering up a lot of things that are not great. And so I needed to come on in a public setting where it can be reviewed um by other entities to be considered and for further steps.

010That's all. Yep. Thanks for your comment, Ashley. Uh any other announcements or public comments for items not on the agenda? sit sideways. Will be able to make comments during the board. Yes. Yes. Hearing none, we will move on to the administrative report. Do you want to share your screen, Tracy? Video. Sorry, I'll just share and then you can Oh, um, are you videos in a different place than the that So, can we start with the student presentation? Yeah, sure. You want to go first? If I can get there. I can get there. Let's try that first. I have um this year I think the was the first year that um the elementary school had a uh student lighthouse team and uh they were planning to attend but when they realized it was going to be

011out here and they'd missed baseball practice they opted for the video version. So I have two short videos so hopefully I can get these two. This is the first one. Um these are our three fifth grade. Um so these are elementaryaries lighthouse student lighthouse team leaders and I'm going to let them introduce themselves to you. Turn it down. Um I'm in fifth grade in Miss's class. I'm here. I'm in fifth grade. I'm in Miss Palmer's class. I'm Alice in five. All right. So, you are the first student lighthouse team that Windsor has had. So, can you talk to me about how you got selected to be on the lighthouse? Um, we like there was like blind voting. We had to fill out a form on our Chromebooks and then um the second and third graders

012voted and Whoever got like voted the most got to be in the lighthouse team. Zava, explain what you mean by blind voting. Like no names. It's just one, two, three, four. So they they voted on your application. It was labeled by And you can't like if you go to the PR if you went to the principal's office too much, you couldn't Yeah. You couldn't even like So, do you think there was a was there hire was there a process before the students voted? Like were there people that applied that didn't get onto the yes election? cuz I think a lot of people in all the classes like like wanted to do it like just to take the chance and some people um and but like a lot of them I feel like were because when

013we watched the presentation it's like them building like a playground and doing a bunch of really fun stuff. So like everyone was um wanting to do it cuz they wanted to do all that fun stuff. But like depending on how you filled out your application like it asked you what do you want to do as a student lighthouse team on student lighthouse team and then like depending on that other people would decide if they liked what you wanted to do and then whoever got the most votes would be on the student lighthouse team. All right. And I So I think this is where we discovered Well, Alex will tell you in a minute here. Let's see. Okay. So, we've just learned this video will only last for two minutes. So, we tips here, but uh

014Xavier, you were going to tell us about who could or couldn't apply to be a Lighthouse team. Yeah. If you have like too many writeups or um you didn't do your work, you couldn't apply because I wasn't showing leadership, I think. Yeah, I wasn't showing leadership. All right. So, what are some of the things that being on the student lighthouse team or being the student lighthouse team, what are some of your responsibilities? Uh to like be kind, show people like show you the way like but also like be good because like some of the people look up to us and if you're just being bad then they'll choose to be bad but if you're good they'll choose to be good. So lead by we'd say lead by example right you behave and act the way

015that we would want everyone else to do. Tell me some of the jobs you have to do. Um we read at assemblies. Uh we hopefully we haven't done that many yet uh because it kind of started at the beginning of the year and then it kind of fell off and we're trying to restart it again. Um we are going to we did like open house at the beginning of the year. Um and we're hopefully going to be doing field day helping organize that. And fifth graders are already running the stations and we're all fifth graders. Yeah. Good. And we have the big kickball game against all the teachers. Oh, I can't do that. It'll be fun. I'm a little afraid of that, but that's okay. We're gonna kick you guys. We'll discuss that next video.

016Um, what about Um, so I know at the beginning of the year we had a really good start and then it felt like things kind of fell off whether it was for time or things. If you could make plans for the year, what would you want the student lighthouse team to be? What would you want your schedule to be? How often would you want to meet? Um, every other week on like every other week on Wednesday or Thursday, depending on the schedule, right? Yeah, maybe Friday actually. And in those meetings, what would you want us to discuss? Like what? Like events like school things like not just like school events like some out of school like open house when people get to come in. I think we should do one at the end of the

017year so like there's more progress of the students. Yeah. Like they can see how like thinking about the family engagement nights. Like it would be nice to rope you in to try to help lead some of those as well. Do you would you if you knew what it was like right now would you apply again? Yeah, I would. I we need more people. Like we need more people but like to like greet at assemblies and when we do more like open houses or something. Honestly, I don't even know if we're going to do a new application. Like I don't know if the other people are going to like do it. Maybe they already have though. I think that because they announced it at field day when the student lighthouse teams like what at the end

018of the kickball game they announced who were it and then you're back to the kickball game again here, huh? Yeah, I get you. And then um well I it sounds like we should you should help us develop that application process and figure out the schedule. Okay. So I have one final question. What advice would you give your teachers about um the student lighthouse team and where you want how you want it to be run and what advice would you give to students who think they want to be on the student lighthouse team? [Music] Um, I I think I would like give kids like younger kids who want to be on the student lighthouse team to like think of it not as much as, oh, I'm leading the entire school. I'm doing a bunch of things.

019It's going to be super stressful. Blah blah. Like, but more think of it like you're like if you're in C older like if you're in higher grades like think of it as you're like leading the other people like on a team or like I don't know on like if you're doing a um a group work in like class like think of it as kind of like you're leading that and then like don't think about oh we're going to be um talking in front of the entire school and a bunch of adults when we do the um stripe awards. We're going to be think of it as like oh we're reading this to all we're reading this to like congratulate all the people who like worked hard to be good uh people and yeah good good

020advice. How about you Xavier? Any advice? No advice. You said everything. Would you would you do it again if you if knowing what you know? Would you be on Student Lighthouse again? Yeah, I definitely would. Do you, Alex, do you have any advice? [Music] Um, I don't know. Like just like don't be scared cuz like it's you may think it's going to be stressful to go out in front of the school, the elementary school and like talk to people. But if you really actually get up there, it you may have like it might be a little bit scary at the start, but the second one the second like meeting or thing that we had leadership assembly. Mhm. Like I'm pretty sure all of us were used to it. You seem more comfortable by the second

021one. Yeah. Yeah. Like I remember the first time that we did it like we were all really like we all really nervous. We're like, "We're going to mess up. Um, this is going to go bad." And then we did it and it was like super easy. It was just reading off a piece of paper into a microphone. Like, and we all had, at least I had a lot of fun doing it cuz it was like something different. It wasn't just you go up to class and do your stuff and then come down. It was something different. So, um, yeah. All right. Well, thank you. you have done you've done a really nice job and I think part of your leadership for me is that you can just sit here comfortably and talk too that's a

022really important quality thank you so I guess that's what they would have said if they had come um I told them they got one take we're doing this once so um but it's definitely an area that it started um I I was not a part of the selection process at the beginning the the team was larger and we've had some ups and downs and changes and their schedules haven't been really consistent, but there's a lot of room for growth, but um I think these three have done a great job and they have good advice. Yeah. And I'll I'll throw out there um I saw at least a couple of these guys run a um run the leadership assemblies. Yeah. A leadership assembly and they do an amazing job. Um it's and that was an early

023in the year one too. So it was the first or second. So I mean if they were nervous they were not showing it. Um they it's really cool to see our students our students like you say um take take on that that leadership role and really take it seriously and kind of be the ones who are like recognizing their younger peers. Uh it's it's very cool. They had to come down and watch themselves this morning on camera. So updates on auto school. Over the last month, we um had our student le day of play, which is um our students basically developed our student leadership team developed an entire day of structured activities um and ask support or teachers to support them in their activities. And throughout the day, students move between different activities um based

024on their choice. So really trying to advocate for people with some choice. Um and the ultimate like experience was just wonderful to see and every time we do this where we have these multi- grades really come together um students who usually don't have a place to shine find a place to shine. And I think that's a part of the magic of of those opportunities of giving those kids who maybe are more reserved or um have a different interest to connect particularly in a small school with others who might have similar interests. So you'll see in that talk um no hold on I gota use my lefth hand corner um that's a duck duck goose game by two sixth graders all the way down through kindergarteners and they spend 45 minutes out there playing versions of

025like duck duck goose and mayi and different versions of it and they're all thoroughly engaged and it was great to see kindergarteners being able to lead sixth graders and sixth graders being great role models. um run in the middle of testing. Um we've got a few people left their testing. Um this is again a state mandated thing that has some value in some places. It's really um it takes a lot of time out of good learning, good experiences for kids to sit and stare at a computer and answer questions um and then wait for their peers to finish their tests. Um, but we're we're navigating through it and this is I think our third time with this round of state testing. So, we'll see what that comes out to. We're in the middle of student

026life conferences which I've been able to sit in on a couple and um help kids prepare and it's just great to see kids be able to share um what they're excited about in their own learning which goes back to giving student agency which I'll go down the student course summit which I recommend which is we're able to bring um three staff members and we're originally going to bring two students but for medical reasons they weren't able to go to the student power summit um which we've done this is the fourth year I think for SU Um, and the big takeaway is that when you give students the ability, children the ability to have agency over their education, not everything, not all the time, but really being able to find what it is that they do

027well and do it well and find it others who enjoy what they enjoy. There's a power that happens in our brains and in our community. And so, we want to continue to celebrate that. Uh we just finished our maple sugaring unit where we had our maple celebration which you'll see a couple of the images down the bottom leftand corner uh wonderful community showed up and then you can see in that middle picture that's actually our student members of our student leadership team setting the stage like they did the whole planning they set the room up like we're we're doing a lot more hands off which is really quite a wonderful experience myself. Um, and then you'll see kids in this middle lower picture where they're learning how to split wood. Um, and we're at the

028point now we've got a couple of students who teach other students how to split them. We're not using, but we do have a a nice wedge in there and appropriate sized hammers that they practice with and then they split the wood for our um, evaporator. And then in this other picture, you'll just see images of kids working together, learning together. Um, schooling is hard, but when you see kids smiling and talking together, um, it's it just reinforces that there's a lot of value in what we have to offer. Um, yeah, I guess a couple is the first one, a couple things from the elementary side in Windsor. Um we are excited for Tara Kuster who's our librarian who's leaving on maternity leave after um April break and we have been so lucky to find um

029actually someone she went to school with who is filling in for her. So she um Sarah Mullberg has been in school since April 2nd getting to know the kids getting to know the routines working with Tara. So that transfer transition will happen after break. Um we had the a wonderful assembly on March 27th um from Nana's books where we were awarded so many books. Um and this really is the work of Destiny Lawyer who put it all together and very last minute pulled off an amazing day for Dennis Diaak to spend at school. He read to students. He um he visited lunchrooms and cafeterias. We did have WCAX come and everything just you know when things are kind of meant to be they just all fall into place. And third, that was a day that

030just fell into place and was amazing. But Destiny uh is re really deserved a lot of credit for receiving the grant and the work that went into it and then coordinating the day. We have concluded our VTAP testing. Um those are long hard weeks for students and teachers and we're glad to be back to a more uh usual schedule. Um our fifth graders participated in the uh I won't say much about it because Colleen probably will. the um presentation of Ryan's story by John um Hulligan who came and shared only our fifth graders went. It was content heavy and I just have to say the um the students were amazing. I mean you know the story and the presenter just captured everybody. So they were just captivated by the story and what he had to

031say that the students did an outstanding job in the assembly. Um, our sixth grade also uh went to our fifth grade went to see the sixth grade performance of the Big Top. That was the theater from that Lauren Warner put together. And I think um this month we really have been crossing hallways I guess in those examples of some elementary students participating in in middle school and high school. Um the fifth the um the uh kindergarten class, Miss Angie's class made stone soup and they invited the cafeteria workers to come and have lunch with them and that's what this picture of was. So they went down to the kitchen and helped put the soup together and then they came up and celebrated with the kids at the end of the day and I I love

032that. Um we are in the midst of student life conferences this week and then um the middle school uh guidance counselors Colleen and I are working and Mory Mulligan are working to we've been hearing from the fifth graders how they're they're anxious about just going across the hall but it feels like another school away. So um we're already talking about multiple opportunities for the fifth graders to make connections with some of the people in the uh middle school to help with that transition. Oh, and then I think at the last meeting you asked about our family engagement nights. So, uh, April 24th is the next math engagement night. Um, and we're trying to make it a kind of a make and take that you come and learn to play a lot of math games and

033then you take the supplies to go home and play them at home as well. So, um, that's all right. And in the Windsor Middle School updates, um some of the things that are happening now with the leadership activities, one as Tracy spoke about was the Nana's book um grant award. Um this was mostly in our sixth grade classes. And the reason why Miss Lawyer was involving our sixth graders was because it started because of her disabilities unit and she tries to open up her library to be very wide and very deep. And she applies for grants for new books all the time. and this foundation heard about her unit on this and that's how the sixth graders got involved and they really were excited about being the leaders of of this day and and running

034the assembly and leading it and then the best part was sharing the books with all the children in all the classrooms. Um, and that that week, two weeks ago, was really, like Tracy said, across the hallway of middle schoolers working with elementary, high schoolers working with elementary and middle school. And, um, it then reversed and we found that the ele the preschoolers came and thanked our sixth graders, which was really really surprising to our sixth graders that it crossed in the other direction. It was really fun. Um, one of the other leadership activities is our eighth grader, our speaking of um, groups that get together, our leadership team, our lighthouse team in the middle school meets every Tuesday and they put together specifically our eighth graders were really interested in it in running a March

035Madness um, activity with students and teachers um, participating in it together and that was really exciting. and they're they're now having conversations with the teachers about what kind of prizes they could win for these um competitive moments, looking for some fun things to do, but they're already thinking about another kind of event for the staff and and families and students. Um, one of the other leadership pieces is we have we had any student in the middle school be able to apply, but only two students um well, that's not true. few students applied and then they only chose so many through the group um through I believe it is the restorative practice program where we have trained the trainers students are doing a bystander intervention program and they're going to be going this Friday. So we're

036excited because part of the return is that they're going to come back to the school board meeting and talk about what they learned because they're going to be talking to their peers. um other leadership activities was those theater performances and we're really excited that um beyond our um usual semester long classes, Ms. Warner was able to do quarterlong classes for smaller groups and the kids were putting on fun short shows like the um Big Top Circus for for the younger kids and it really helped us expand our thinking on the um scheduling of classes. They don't always have to be a whole semester. We could still get a lot of benefit from that. Um some eighth grade opportunities coming up are our eighth graders have met with our high school counselors and they're looking at

037their schedules for next year, their program of studies. They're meeting with them and and that's really exciting. And our school counselor has also taken eighth graders to visit CCV and some field trips to get out and ask questions and see some more places of higher learning and different things that our eighth graders might be interested in. Um the Hartford Vette is also one of their annual trips. We have completed our YRBS for this year and we have also what is our YR youth risk behavior survey sorry thank you that's done in Vermont every two years and that's for um up starting at sixth grade not elementary right not elementary 6th through 12th grade and we have a little bit of that um in our next presentation some of the results and we also completed our

038Vermont as well as the others I said our Vermont um assessment tests, state assessment tests. We're only in the makeup assessment phase right now. Some students who are absent. So, we're working on that. Students have worked really hard on that and put in a lot of effort and it's it's been great. And like you heard before, it's it's a lot of days of testing. Some students are ready to go plow through a couple sessions, but the teachers try to space it out so it doesn't feel like too much. Um, and then lastly, as Tracy said, we have some transitions planned with Mr. McFillips here for for Albert Bridge students to come to Windsor kind of transition days and shadow days as well as our fifth graders coming across the hall to sixth, seventh, and eighth

039grade. And we're working with um Tracy and I and our school counselors in all three places to make that happen. What I have here for pictures, we have our monthly student of the month um group down in the bottom left corner. Some pictures of the big top circus um actors. The third picture is our March Madness um seventh and sixth graders on the on the court. Um in the right bottom corner is one of our um days that our eighth grade ELA students just finished the outsiders and they were very excited to come dressed in costume to celebrate the end of that um unit on the outsiders. And then we have the group that did the leading of the Nana's books in the top right corner and all the books on um most of the

040books from the foundation are based on Alzheimer's and dementia and and helping people understand that. Well, that's what I have to share. Thank you. Thank you. High school updates. We were represented at the state science fair and we had three ladies, Maddie Hollsworth, Cassie Clark, and Roxy Sherwin. that were rewarded at the state science fair for their work done here at Windsor. Um our theater this spring the choir, the theater and the band classes combined and they took students on the field trip to Northern Stage to see the musical uh waitress and the intent was to show students their professional counterpart counterparts and a musical was able to combine all three contents into one performance. Afterwards, the students had the opportunity to sit down, ask questions, and have the um and have feedback from the

041professionals there. Our girls state basketball um won the state championship. Our March intensives have wrapped up. They will be our student presentation um at the May or the June board meeting. They're getting that together now. We are hoping that we have all of our March and not hoping, we will have all of our March intenses for next year set before the end of this year. Our intent is to bring more experiences. The feedback that we've gotten from kids is I won't be allowed to go on a trip out of the country, but I would be allowed to go on a trip within the country. So, we're hoping to do two um we're looking at Washington DC and possibly New York and then kind of some one-day trips along um around the upper valley that would

042match up with whatever the march intensive is. Um, Steve Mallaloy has taken our instructional team leader position and that will open up a full time that will open up a full-time teaching position in our building. Um, it will be in the history department. But what we're hoping for due to our needs is to have that be a point to teach two history classes and then have three classes for intervention. One of those interventions being um having someone trained in restorative circles and then having the time in their schedule to do so. I believe Christine's going to talk later in the meeting about additional additional staffing changes, but we did get a another one today. That means that we're going to have to advertise for a theater teacher for next year, which is heartbreaking for us

043um given all the the good that I reported this year on our theater program. But um we will be advertising for that next year and that is just due to a commute, an hour and a half commute each way. [Music] All right, thanks Kate. I am up next. My report is not nearly as fun as what you just heard. Um, first up, I just want to bring to your attention Lor's added dates to your calendars. September is the second Monday and March is the second Monday due to holiday and the election. Just so you just so you have that on your radar. Yep. Um, I wanted to give you a quick legislative update. There's a lot um happening right now, but I wanted you to be aware that um House Ed did um did release

044H454 um with a 7 to4 vote on March 28th. Um this particular legislation is primarily based on the VSSA, which is the Vermont Superintendent Association's timeline and framework for in incremental change in Vermont's education system. And this was also supported by the Vermont School Boards Association. So basically the bill aims to implement gradual change. Um as you know there there have been lots of proposals for transformation. This one includes district sizes of 4,000 students or SU sizes of 4,000 students, class sizes of 12 I think K1 minimum class sizes, 15 in the elementary and 18 I believe in the high school if I recall. Um it also um convenes the or adds members to the commission and um those some appointed some uh retired superintendent or retiring superintendent I believe to really create a thoughtful

045plan of where district um where district consolidation can and should happen. Um, and the in this bill, I believe that report would be due back to the legislature in December of next year, December of 2025. Um, so, um, that's what I know about that. I'll keep you posted. Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee continued work on its education finance propos proposal, which will be added to an H um 454, which I believe will um be um some foundational formula coming um coming to us. Um I did want to just include that um the governor did release a statement. He I'm just going to read it to you. He wants to be upfront with legislators. He will not support adjourning the session without a bill to transform the new funding system, establish a new

046government structure, those being SUS and um where those lines are drawn, whether it's five districts across the state or I've heard 12, I've heard 20. Um so he's saying he he will not adjourn until that is in something is in place and there's a an imple implementation timeline. Um so more to come, I'm sure. Elizabeth, please give us what you know since you're there. Um, yeah, I'm actually up at the Capitol right now. Um, first of all, the governor can say all he wants about uh when he thinks we should adjourn, but it's not up to the governor um at all. So, uh, and the H474, um, did go through the House Education. Then it went to Ways and Means. I think it's supposed to be voted out of Ways and Means tomorrow. Uh, we

047will get a all legislators will get a a kind of training on it tomorrow and then it should come to the floor on Wednesday. Great. and anything you learn can share with us. That'd be awesome. It has a um it has a foundation formula of uh starting at $13,000 and then weighted for uh the pupil weights. But more importantly, what it does do uh which I think is actually really important is that it it takes um the homestead and not it it leaves homesteads as they are. It changes uh the um one of the things they debated for a long time was it changes uh the pace of re-evaluation so it's not every five years so it doesn't have uh as big of an it has less of an impact and less of a shock

048to uh families. it'll be done um statewide. But more importantly, they created a I think nine different categories for nonhomestead. So that um uh and they expanded the definition of commercial to include any residential property that earns money. So in other words, um Airbnbs. Uh and so they created all these different new categories so that uh it's able to more appropriately capture second homeowners, capture the mushy um and it works it works out uh the property taxes in a much fairer way. I think that's actually really just as important as the if not more than the uh changes being made on the um education committee side. Awesome. Thanks, Elizabeth. Um I wanted to just um quickly update you. Um, some of you may have heard there was um a request for superintendents to do a

049title six certification that came to us on Friday afternoon. Over the weekend, I think there was a lot of um discussion and and conversation and a lot of advocacy around this. And so this afternoon, and I know Elizabeth was involved in that, so thanking her publicly. Um we were told just about I don't know right before this meeting started that um superintendents will not be asked to provide individual certification that the state will um send a statewide letter um and reject conditions or assurances that are not supported by the current law. So that is good news. Um and we'll see what that letter looks like. There are some model letters coming out from other states that um Vermont can certainly use as a a template. And then lastly for me um the quarterly report is

050in the portal. It's linked. I can tell you just briefly that um get to it. Currently there's an unassigned fund balance which is good of about $2 million. So, we are um not all the revenue is in and obviously not all the expenditures have happened, but um we're in we're in good shape. Larry Larry wants me to share with you that next year he's working on a different um reporting mechanism which will account for the revenue like we encumber a lot of the expenses and we can encumber encumber the revenues as well so that in the first quarter it doesn't look like we're over budget by millions of dollars. So he is working on that for next year. So but we are in we are in good shape. Okay, let me stop sharing this. Okay.

051All right. Back to you, Davis. All right. Thanks, Christine, and all of our lead learners here. All right. So, we are on to six, which is our items for discussion, followed by motions if needed. Uh, and our first item is a field trip approval uh for a field trip that is taking students out of the country. So, who who will be speaking to that today? I believe I will be speaking to that. All right, Crystal Sn. Um, I have a little presentation prepared. If I share my screen, will people be able to see that? Yep, I think so. Yes. I hope so. There we go. Yeah, we see that. Good. There. Everyone can see that? Yes. All right. So, um, I'm Brian Stanleman. I'm the band director at Windsor. I am here because I'm hoping

052to get approval for a trip to London in July of 2026 for uh fine arts students. Um we'll be going through a tour company EF Tours. Um this is our itinerary and some things that it includes um which is two theater performances, seeing some um like local landmarks, uh Big Ben, Piccadilly Circus. Um, and we're also hoping to add on a few extra things like going to an opera performance or a um, philarmonic or something like that for students in music to get to see professional counterparts um, at like a worldwide level. Um, let's see. So this um through this tour, we have a full-time tour director um and it's continue it's led by this person the entire time. They stay with us the whole week. Um we get two theater performances. We get to

053see the Globe Theater. Um and all the details are covered. So roundtrip flights. Um we get a motor coach while we're there for transportation. Uh they take care of hotels and uh breakfast and dinner every single day. Um, so we're planning on focusing um specifically on fine arts, so theater, music, um, and art. So we're working with um, the tour company to add some things like uh, the National Gallery, Battery Park and Power Station, Covent Garden and Royal Ballet and Opera and more. um our students will be able to see um like European architecture, culture and arts experiences and um get to experience the like really vibrant city of London um in contrast to where they live which is very rural. Um there's also opportunities EF is uh certified so there's oppo opportunities for students

054to earn flexible pathway credits. the EF can actually award high school credit for um going on this trip. The students would have to um do a little bit of work ahead of time and then write a paper on what their experience. Um so we're hoping to go July 20th through 26th. However, the tour company asks that we have a 3-day um buffer on either side just based on when they can get us flights and everything like that. Um so that would be July 17th through 29th are the potential dates of this tour. Um the price per student would be $3,689 which is hefty. So, we're going to um try and fund raise as much as we can um to allow this to be a more equitable experience. Um so, this tour um it allows students

055to experience the world in familiar subjects in vastly different environments from our own, offering cultural appreciation, expanding their worldview, and inspiring a future global citizenry. I also have three students here at the meeting tonight who are going to tell you a little bit more about what um this means specifically to them. So Arabella and Lars, if you'd like to get um I'm Arrow. I'm a senior at Windsor High School. Um and when Mr. Simmons brought this idea to me, I fell in love with it immediately. um because it's not something I will get to experience. Um it's something that um I've always wanted for our band program and not being able to partake in it will be very sad, but I will be able to help fund raise this this event. Um and I think

056it'll be great to even watch my little sister who will be able to go on this trip um and have them get that kind of outside experience. Um, I'm going into music education myself, so the idea of them being able to fund raise and put together a trip for this kind of thing, um, I think would be very beneficial to other students who want to, um, follow through with music education, music composition, other things like that. All right. Uh, so I'm Mars. Uh, I'm just in general really excited for this trip. I've been lucky enough to have uh the opportunity to be able to do a lot of traveling in my life. So, I've seen a lot of really cool places, learned a lot of really cool things. I've never been to London. Uh and

057I I'm just super excited to be able to learn its super rich history and super rich culture, be able to witness where William Shakespeare like became a thing. And it may not look like it, but I'm a very big theater guy. So, William Shakespeare, he's kind of like my jam. I like William Shakespeare. And so, it's really cool to be able to see where he like did all of his Shakespeareing. And uh also, it's always nice to have some fish and chips. Pretty good. My name is Bella. I'm a freshman. My name is Bella. I'm a freshman at High School. And when I first heard about this trip, I thought it was a really cool idea to be able to go to a separate country. I've never been outside the state mostly, so that was

058a really cool idea for me to be able to leave the country. I've never been on a plane before. So, I think that's really cool. Um, also the opportunities are insane. Broadway shows, I love Broadway shows. I think the coolest thing in the world. Um, again, you can get it to architecture and just learn a lot of information about it. So, it's a way to incorporate learning, but also having a lot of fun to do it. And I think that's really cool. And it's London, so there's lots of things there. And yeah, I think it's really cool that all of us at a group will be able to walk around London and see all kinds of shows, all kinds of foods. Thank you guys. I have a question. Um, how many students are you thinking

059would be part of this group? Um, this trip would be open to all um band, choir, theater, and art students in the school. Uh we need at least 10 students to sign up for the trip in order to um make it cost effective for the tour company and everything. Um right now I'm thinking between 12 and 18 especially depending on who um as adults are able to go on the trip uh for shoping. Thank you. Uh I have one question. what what are some of the fundraising ideas that you have? Um because I know that is that is a pretty pricey trip and I uh love to be able to help out with them. Just interested if you have anything cooking right now. Um I haven't done a ton. We just got done um doing

060a bunch of fundraising, but um I'm hoping to do some repeats of what we did in the fall to raise money for our um music technology. So, we'll be hoping to do like uh concession stands at games, running bake sales, um raffles at our concerts. I do a showcase in the spring that we use as a fundraiser. So, um some of that money would help go towards this trip. I'm also going to look for um some grants around that can help pay for these trips. Uh hit up the burn foundation, a couple other um like uh organizations that might help pay for that and see what we can do. Um, I have my student leadership group, uh, Triumph, which is our music honor society, is um, kind of like our fundraising um, group. So, I

061was going to present it to them, see what ideas they had for fundraising for this trip, what they um, thought would work, especially since I'm newer to the area. A lot of these kids know the area a lot better than I do, so they know what works, they know what doesn't work. All right. Thank you. Any other questions for Mr. Stamman or our students? All right. And I think we need to take a vote to approve this. Uh so I will they're on the best way to say it. So, I will take a motion to approve uh the uh trip to London for July 2025. 26 2026. This is Amy. So moved. Second, Megan. All right. Thanks. Uh any further discussion? Sounds good. Yeah, it sounds awesome. Um and I can't wait to see your

062fundraising so I can support it. Um, if there is no further discussion, I will uh I think this is when we can do a simple voice vote on again. All those in favor, please say I. I. I. All right. All those opposed? All right. Any abstensions? All right. So, it is approved. Great job. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thank you, Brian. Very exciting stuff. Very exciting. All right. So, with that, we are on to a review of the YRBS 2023 data. Yes, that's going to be Tracy. Tracy, do you want to share your screen or would you like me to share mine? Um, if you have that one deck and you don't mind sharing, maybe we can just go with that. So, then the other stuff is in there, too. I'm just gonna have to

063get otherwise I can pull it up either way. That's fine. Thanks. Get to the right place. Um, and while you're pulling that up, thank you Christine. I'll just share uh for anyone that I have not yet met. My name is Tracy Price. I'm our diversity, equity, inclusion coordinator. Nice to be here with y'all. Um, so I'm going to just share out a little bit of a snapshot from the youth risk behavior survey. Um, what's what they didn't do in this report is they didn't actually have an executive summary. I think in the last time they had an executive summary and a lot of the information was pulled from there. So just have a little bit of data that I pulled out especially in light of a conversation around bullying. Couple things to note about YRBS.

064Um I think Colleen had mentioned maybe earlier it's you know it's something that happens every two years and um it's self-reported. So these are students who are self-reporting um behaviors. Uh in a couple places we don't have enough data to actually disagregate it or see how it disagregates around demographics and I'll I'll share just a couple of those. Um, so, uh, yeah, Christine, if you don't mind advancing to the next slide, that would be great. So, here you can see I, you know, because there there are different reports and in fact, I realized that some of the information I shared at the SU board meeting was really taken from Windsor County. So, I'll clarify where that shows up, but we have breakdowns for uh, Windsor Southeast Middle School. We have it for high school. neither

065of those this year. I think in the past they were actually disagregated by groups and demographics like LBG LGBTQ plus bipac black indigenous people of color and then folks on IEPs 504s. It didn't show up that way in any of our data for for WESSU. So it makes it a little bit difficult for us to really know what's happening again by demographics. So, I did bring in a couple of um data sets that look at Windsor County as a whole and then there's other data sets that talk about Vermont as a whole. So, you can see some of the patterns in the data and we can imagine I think if we were, you know, we can imagine that maybe some of our students who are LGBTQ plus or BIPO, you know, or on APs may

066be having some of those same patterns of experience if that makes sense. Um, okay. So if you can advance to the next slide, please. Um, again just pulled out a couple things on bullying. So this one is uh bullying in Vermont. So this is taken at the state level and this is for high school students. So thinking about high school students, self-reporting uh about one in five high school students reported getting bullied in the last 30 days. and female students, younger students, LGBTQ plus students, BIPAC students, students with IEPs were found to be statistically more likely to report getting bullied during the past 30 days. Um, and it looks like, you know, they said compared to uh 2021 and 2023, being bullied has statistically increased. So, bullying according to YBS has statistically increased across our

067state. Um, okay. How about the next slide please? So this one is also just looking at high school students um that also you know this is uh students who reported bullying someone else. So overall one in eight high school students report bullying someone else. Demographic breakdown is a little bit different here. Male students, younger students, bipox students, students with IEP statistically more likely to report bullying somebody else during the past 30 days. Again, this is self-reported data. And this also looks like between 2021 and 23, bullying someone else statistically increased. Okay, how about the next one, please? Also, just thinking about mental health. Uh, and this is also looking at high school students saying that during the past 30 days, a third of high school students, so 34% of high school students said their mental

068health was not good most of the time or always. uh female students, LGBTQ plus students, uh more than two times as likely as male students and heterosexual cisgender students to report poor mental health. Um and there's also a little bit more information about some more groups. Um I guess the good news is that it says between 2021 and 23 experiencing poor mental health did not statistically change. Um but you know we know I feel like a lot of people are talking about mental health uh crises right with with our with our youth. Um so there's that. Um and the next slide please Christine. These are the information that I shared this is again this is from Windsor County. So looking across Windsor County all of the students across Windsor County. These were just some um

069data sets that seemed interesting because they were statistically significant. So, anything that's marked with an asterisk is statistically significant. And these are all broken down by demographics. Again, we don't have the breakdown for demographics for students in our in our high school and middle school. and they said it's because if it's less than 50 students that they don't report it because it's it has to be more than 50 students I guess in order for them to to use those breakout or those breakdowns in demographics. Um so again I mean these patterns in Windsor County again seem to be reflective of what I just shared about um statewide data. So about students feeling bullied in the last 30 days or did not go to school because they felt unsafe at school. Right? So students feeling unsafe

070in Windsor County, you can see it's female LGBTQ plus and bipox students who have a statistical uh significance to feeling more unsafe at schools. Um and again it's just I pulled out things that seem statistically significant and interesting. So you can see that there are some trends there, right? especially if you look down the column uh those first four rows of female students um almost all the column for LGBTQ plus students uh some for bipox students and for for some for those on IEPs right so there's there's something different that's being experienced by students with those identities okay how about the next slide these. That's the next one. Oh, sorry. Sorry. I'm like, what else? Yeah. Okay. So, this was this is Windsor County middle schools. Again, you can see some of the same patterns,

071right? That females and LGBTQ plus students and in some cases bipac students. They don't break down middle schools by IEPs and 504s at all in YRBS data. So, that's why you're not seeing that here. But you can see some of those same patterns in the data for Windsor County. All right. And I think I've got maybe one or two more slides that uh pull out some information from WCESU. So this is just information I pulled out because these were some of the places where our SU has statistically significant data scores than the state. And so what you're looking at on this slide, um, all of what is in yellow are things that could be potentially more concerning for us with our SU than the data from the state. The things that are in green are

072things that are a little bit more favorable, right, that w that students in RSU are experiencing. So fewer students, like statistically less students in our high schools reported to have ridden uh with a driver who had been drinking in the last 30 days, right, than the data number for the state. So I just pulled out again all of the places in our high school data that is statistically significant in one way from our state data. So, it's kind of a a mix, right, of some things that have to do with um you know, they I think generally for both our high school students and middle school students, they seem a little bit less concerned about the impacts of things like vaping or smoking marijuana um than the state reports. Um and then Christine, if you

073can go to the last one. Next slide is the last one. It's the same. I did the same thing for middle school. So again, just pulling out places where our students are reporting something that's statistically different, statistically significantly different than the state level. And again, the green are sort of more favorable, right? It looks like our middle school students seem to report wearing sunscreen, right, more than students at the state level. And those yellow areas are are are places where we might, you know, we could consider looking at like why why why what is different about our schools? Why is why is this different, right, than what students are experiencing at the state level? So I that's that's the data that I pulled. Again, just trying to make those looking for like how do we

074compare, you know, when we think about our SU, our county, and then also at the state level and tease some of that out. Um, so I'm going to pause there and just see yeah, if there are any maybe pass it back to you, Davis, or I don't know if there are questions that I can answer. The only thing I would add, maybe you can confirm this. Um the reason in years past the reason that we've gotten for not having reporting out at that for our building level is um for deident deidentification. Um I think that with numbers that small of a concern is that is that you could ostensibly in a community identify which students might have been responding and that's something that you know would be in this kind of survey really detrimental. Yeah,

075it could be. Although I think that a couple years ago I feel like we got that data and we had that data and our data was similar to the county. Right. So I remember seeing that it was like 30% of students identified as LGBTQ, right? Which is the same as the county which is the same as the state. So I'm not sure yeah why. Yeah. For this one we didn't see it. But you're right. I mean they said I did email them and they said if it was less than 50 then they don't report on that. But you know it's probably similar patterns. Although I will, you know, the screen that you're looking at, the last the last point on that one was ever felt that they were treated badly or unfair fairly in school

076because of their race or ethnicity. And you can see like RSU is is statistic. I'm sorry. I'm just it's it's lower. It's lower than the state uh self-reporting on that, which is, you know, it's all it's interesting. It's curious. Um I I'm just a little confused because I printed this offline which is the 2023 and it's narrowed down by SU. It is. Yes. It's not Windsor County. It's SU S. Yes. This this info is from SU data. That's from that same report. It's just that for our SU level data, they didn't break it down by demographics, by LGBTQ plus, by by students, by IEPs. Uh, yeah, but I'm referring to the information you showed on the previous slide where you said that it was win county schools, but I'm looking at data for WCSSU. So,

077I'm kind They have both. They have both. You can look at it by county and by SU, right? So, I'd rather see the SU for this presentation than the county. That makes sense. That's my question. Like, I have it here. So, I'm just confused. I was the only reason I was sharing the county data and the state data is because we don't get to see the demographics because they weren't significant in Windsor in in our schools. So that was why it was just to see like okay if we can see what those patterns are like at the state level and at the county level we can be curious about whether those same patterns are happening in our schools. So that was the only point of taking a little bit of each of those to share.

078Thank you. I understand. Yep. Yeah. I think it's the lowest possible level where that data is broken out. Right. Exactly. Yeah. Any other questions, comments? All right. Well, thank you for sharing the breakdown of that, Tracy. Um, I think that that is a good segue into our bullying conversation. That provides us with some data that we see every other year. Um it's I'm glad this came out in time for this conversation because I think it gives some uh it kind of quantifies a lot of what we are talking about. Um and it shows a lot of the really concerning trends that we see in some of the increases that um I think unfortunately have been reflected in you know student and parent and staff experience. So uh we are going to move on to C

079which is the conversation on bullying. Yeah. Let me get back to the right slide. Okay. I have a question. So, this is bullying. You said every other year it's the survey taken. Every two years they do this state survey. Is there a reason why it's not done every year since the numbers are going up? So, and why it's not being done in the elementary and the middle school? Well, no middle no school some but not to elementary. At some schools the elementary goes up until 8th grade. So this survey um is carried out by the CDC. So it's a nationwide survey that breaks down to the local level. So that's part of why we kept we have like a two-year lag on it. It's a massive data set that the men break down. Um and

080what Tracy showed us too just for a little bit of context. That's a very very small slice of the questions they ask. It's a I don't know how many pages it is, but I've looked through the whole thing and it's it's like I would say probably hundreds of questions maybe. I think so. Yeah. So, it's a it's a pretty giant data set that we're working on that which is why why it comes out in that form. And I think um in all of our schools, all sixth through eighth graders also take it. Even if it's like a K to 8 school or K to six, the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders take it. All right, Colin, you're gonna start. Sure. So, we put together a presentation just on what we've been working on here at

081school. Just wanting to be really clear. Um the definition of bullying um overt active combination of acts including any act conducted by electronic means directed against a student by another student or group of students and that is reported over time intended to ridicule humiliate intimidate the student and occurs during the school day on school property on a school bus or at a school sponsored activity or before or after the school day on a school bus or a school sponsored activity or does not occur during the school day on school property, on a school bus or on a school sponsored activity and can be shown to pose a clear and substantial interference with another student's right to access educational programs. So, we do get involved even if it is happening outside of school, but the concern

082comes to school and affects kids. Oh, sorry. I'm looking at my slide again. Sorry. um the acknowledgement that for us as an admin team that it is hard and important work for all schools and we are fully committed to the work. We are going to share a process under the understanding and the initiatives and allow time to listen to all of you here and it is important for us to say that HHB are hazing harassment and bullying is a confidential process and outcomes are not shared with parties involved. And when we receive a port a report um it is made by a student, staff or parent. Um administration gathers the information to determine if the case meets the criteria to open an HHB investigation. Parents are contacted whether or not an investigation is opened. If

083investigation is open, parents receive a letter within 24 hours and an investigator and determiner are assigned. An administrator has five days to complete the investigation. At the onset of the investigation, the administrator puts supportive measures in place. if it is substantiated, consequences imposed, which could include education, repair, detention, suspension, um safety plans put in place, communication with all staff, and followup as scheduled. And this is the data since 2021 of substantiated cases. You want to talk about the variation? Can you go back a slide, please? I can tell you that your slide is inaccurate. I mean my we had one for my kid in 2023 24. So that's not you guys aren't sharing accurate information. So the substantiated means that you initiated an investigation and it was found to be accurate. Correct. That have to

084mean all the gateways. just I don't know where this data is coming from but I think it's really irresponsible. We need to look back at the data. And so the 20 2020 through 204 data comes from the state report which um comes from we have to report to the state substantiated cases. So that was pulled from um the data from the state. If it's inaccurate, it's inaccurate. It was inaccurately reported. There probably merits some investigation on your end. Yeah. in in this year um I've started collecting data or we as a team are collecting data so that we can have um a handle on what's going on. So the 2024 2025 data we're compiling in our own spreadsheet. Is it is that one not completed the 2425? No, not yet because we're still on 2425.

085Okay. Um but the other years were pulled from the state report. So, and maybe you'll cover this. So, if I step my toes, feel free to cut me off. But how is that handled on your end, Christine? So, when the administrators process this information, you review it to make sure that it's accurate before it goes to the state or you just trust that everything is right. I do do not I have not um until this year. Now, I'm keeping track. Um but I have not in the past. No. Okay. I know from from our experience anecdotally um the previous slide that talked about the timeline that is almost never met. The investigation almost never wraps up in five days. We almost never got a letter. In some cases it was weeks and we had to

086push to get information um which was communicated to you as well. So I know that you're in the loop on that part. It just it makes me concerned that that information is intentionally inaccurate to downplay the crisis that's happening. I think the definition substantiated needs to be addressed because we've also had cases that there was a finding a fact that something did occur in counseling or whatever you want to call storage restorative practices educational practices with all students involved mentoring whatever you want to call it. So I'd consider that a substantiated case that the school had to pursue it further by going through uh a training or a remediation of the students or understanding or meeting about parties involved. So I believe that to me is definition of substantiation that the school had to take

087further action. No action was warranted afterwards. I think that would be unsubstantiated but further action is needed by the school to address this issue sensitivity training and whatever else I think that should be considered substantiated. Right. I would concur with that. I know Jennifer that's something that we dealt with as a family and ABS like we had more incidences than are reflected on that slide just us. So many more many more investigations happened right? But not just investigations, right? Investigations that led to restorative circles. Like we one incident dragged out and reoccurred. It hit more than zero or more than one. Like we were here three different times in two weeks, but that says one for the entire school for that year. We were more than one. Were those substantiated cases? Were those substantiated 23

08824 that Yes. They led to restorative circles where our student and the other student met with administrators to work through it. No, they were we got the letter that said it was found. Yes. And all that stuff in 2223 2324. Okay. Of course. So, and I know we're not the only school. So, I mean this is like I mean I brought something to say so I don't want to take up time now. I'm just saying I'm already upset because this is why do a presentation that's not even going after it? It's just right. Other than being here support, I'm here mostly because I'm frustrated with the lack of communication and it's to the point where it feels intentional because it's been communicated on our end many times, right? But proper communication involves both parties. And

089I don't know if it's not being received or if it's being received and disregarded, but it is past time to fix it and it's not happening. Same with us. Same with us. So I'll look into that the other data. Yeah, absolutely. Um but we as a administrative team recognize we need to start keeping some consistent data across the SU so we so we know what's going on. So that did start this year. Um and I I can look at the other years. I did it come from the state report. Um I think each principal had their I was a principal so I know had their own system of collecting that data because they have to report it at the end of each year. Um but it wasn't consistent across the SU. It is now. Elizabeth,

090thanks. What data points are you collecting now? Christine, I am collect we are collecting um let me picture my spreadsheet in my head um when an incident is reported um if an investigation is opened whether it's substantiated or not um whether we need um legal counsel involved um we're doing for HH and Title N um who the investigator is how much time is spent on the investigation. Um, other resources that are needed. Um, I think that's about all that's on this. Sounds right. All all the all the information that we're collecting at this point. You don't you don't collect information like uh the types of incidents whether it's physical or verbal or uh whether it's um uh harassment based on a protected class or uh harassment based on I don't know um you collect that

091kind of data. Yes, we we Yes, we definitely know what the incidents are and who's involved. Yeah. So, will the 2024 2025 real results come out at the end of the school year? The the results from this year? Yeah. The final numbers when this is the year ends. Yes. I have a question. I I heard in um on one of the slides that the outcomes were not shared. Why? The outcomes are not shared with both parties. Right? So if um I mean the outcome whether it's substantiated or not is communicated. We don't share what the what the consequences are from family to family. So maybe that wasn't worded correctly, but yeah, the outcomes are shared. Thank you. Okay. So, I'm going to look into that data um in the interest in getting through the rest

092of this and I appreciate it being a little bit more, you know, kind of popcorn just given the subject matter and some of the questions that have come up and the discrepancies in the data that are showing up um for the rest of the presentation. If something does come up, I'm going to keep my eyes kind of over here and if something comes up, just raise your hand and I'll recognize you to keep things moving through. Um we'll go back to our administrators here. So we were going to talk about the barriers that come up for why the reporting um complete understanding of what bullying is and is not. The legal aspects of HHB are what we we follow the policy that we have from the board. Um, we realize that students may not report

093incidents. Um, that it can definitely be around fear and that things that might feel like they could get worse. Um, that there can be a current climate. It can be a climate of lack of inclusion or climate of inclusion making feel people feel excluded. um perceived inconsistent response to exhibited behaviors um because it's a confidential process. People don't know what the outcomes may be. Unkind and hurtful behaviors that do not meet the definition of bullying that are are handbook code of conduct that don't meet bullying or harassment definitions. the ongoing initiatives to address bullying that we are doing across the SU. Um we work together as an admin team to have consistent major and minor behavior handbook across the SU. Um the restorative circle training took place last year at Windsor Middle School for about

094I think six to eight sessions with the um human rights commission. And we have the hazing, harassment and bullying training for staff and students. We have um our coordinator Tracy Price in support and resource and our culture action team leaders. Our equity coaches are a part of the um culture atmosphere of the school which support the student lighthouse team committees light team lighthouse committees and we also incorporate wise with parent permission into our schools to discuss um relationships and bullying and healthy relationships. Elizabeth, thanks. Colleen, can you go back a slide, please, for just a second? So, I I'm not sure I you mentioned both the state law and our SU policy. Which one is it that you are that you're guided by? State law is where our training is through. I'm sorry. somebody from

095the state. We do trainings through people from the who are supported by state law. So nobody comes and looks at our policies in the state and trains us on that. So we go through training with um legal counsel. So that's the Heather Lynn piece. But um so do you have any training for staff on our policy? Nothing specific. I think this year I think we did this year they have I mean at the beginning of the year they go beginning of the year. Yep. So you had a training on the policy. So are you collecting data based only on the state law or are you collecting data on the policy as well? So I mean how do we know whether our policy is affected effective if your guidepost is the state law? I think that

096we follow the policy, Elizabeth. I mean, we get trained by um legal counsel, but but they're training us on the policy, which comes from the law. So, wait, go back. So, you just said, so Heather Lynn comes and does a training for you on the law, procedure is on the law, but so, but you also have her Heather Lynn do a training on our policy. No, not our policy, but our policy, I believe, follows the law. So, she we're doing trainings through Bisbet and Heather Lynn is the presenter. She doesn't come to us. We um go to her. We go to her, but um but she's training us on HHB, the law, which which the the policy follows the law. But the policy is separate from the law. Yes. Okay. Do you have any training

097for do you have any I I'm sure that the training for the law is required. Do you have a required training on the policy? The the staff has the training on the policy for sure. Required every year. The staff does. Yes, we do train the staff on the policy. So 100% of the staff have been trained on the policy every year. I believe and Tracy Price can help me that we did um mandatory training on HHP for staff at the beginning of the year on the law or on the policy policy. Okay. Can you go to the next slide, please? Yeah. I just want to confirm that Tracy is that I mean it would have been what Angie and Tina did during the all staff coming back. Okay, I'm going to look to to confirm

098that, Elizabeth. Okay, thank you. Um, can we go to the next slide? Yeah, we also had additional PD days. Yeah. Okay. Uh, so the restorative circles training, that was what what the um human rights commission did? No. Did I get the wrong name? Yeah, that was correct. That was um John from um Greater Falls. Yeah. Crater Falls. Okay. How many people attended that? That started with about 22 middle schoolers in about I think six to eight sessions. Does that sound right, Tracy? Okay. Were were staff also trained on that? We had um that was that was one of the PD options. That was one of the choice options for staff. What I would like to know is so consistent major and minor behavior handbook across the supervisory union. Have all staff been trained on the

099behav the handle? Is that a requirement? training on the handbook. Yeah, the major minor. Um I don't I wouldn't say they've been trained on it, but they have they they are they have access to it and they can review it for sure. Okay. But do the question is do they like if they're not in a in a training for it? I I'm one of my concerns is that a lot of these things are not mandatory and therefore what I have witnessed is people just leaving when they uh when they have the option. And so that creates inconsistency um and and inconsistent uh inconsistent culture and inconsistent all the way down. It's sort of like the the uh thing with the um the uh severe and pervasive law. Everybody should be trained on that thoroughly and

100completely. Everybody, every single person should be trained on all of these. Yes. Hand, ask the parents who checked the box on the form that said they read the the handbook whether they actually read the handbook out loud to their kids the way they took the box saying that they did. I mean, I I um I appreciate that you've done a lot of work to create these programs, but I I worry that the staff themselves aren't um taking part in them and that that creates a again that creates an inconsistency and and therefore creates an inconsistent um culture in those schools. Can I talk for a sec? Yeah. Am I out of line here? I mean, I I No, I I I think that I don't think you're out of line. So, I just wanted to

101say based along what you what you just said and based on things that have happened in the high school year and I had said to Christine, I want to get to the heart of the issue through through this bullying presentation. And I think a lot of what I see in the high school um is similar what you're talking about with inconsistencies a difficulty in calling out what is hurtful behavior versus bullying. And our first step um for that adult consistency is that we have gotten together a team of all of our adult adviserss who do a student leadership team and we're asking for exactly Christine was at the meeting um exactly what you're saying. We want to get all the adults on the same page um and roll that out for what next year and

102I'm talking on the same page for everything about HF about the culture about what participation in activities and everything looks like. So I recognize I just want to say I recognize what you're saying and that's the step that we're taking to address kind of at the at the high school level. Thank you. I I mean I I I do think that some of these or all of these things this is a really big problem and uh I only know anecdotally from my family and from uh hearing from other families but this is a really and I know that you know that this is a big problem and to not have mandatory training on these things is really uh There's a hole. There's a big hole here. Um, I want you to step it up. This

103is not right. I mean, it's not right that every that people have this as an optional thing and then and then wonder why this is taking place. I'll be quiet now. I'm sorry. No, they're great, great points, Elizabeth. Um, and I know that we've been we've been Tracy and I have been reading about what what policies really um the really important ones that we really need to explicitly share with staff and talk through and explain. Um, and it's really about finding um how and when we're going to do that. And the when is a big piece. we do not have a lot of um in the grand scheme of school there's a lot that has to be communicated and shared um and and I don't know that this has been the priority that it needs

104to be so what you're saying is not out of line at all um it's something that we've that we've already started talking about so appreciate it I think we have a couple more slides just to talk about other things we're trying to do to address some of the issues Things that we've added this year were equity tickets to collect data and shed light on day-to-day incidents, restorative circles training for staff, human rights commission training on harassment and prevention training. That was a PD day, right? Yeah. It wasn't all staff. It was some staff. Some they had a they had Oh, no. She she did a full full staff and then people could break out in the afternoon. We started as as a morning session which for everybody um ongoing and intentional hazing, harassment and bullying

105training for staff and students bringing in the guest speakers that we heard about earlier. Ryan's story presentation for fifth grade through 12th grade was about online bullying and family story and um the disability awareness presentation just always looking to incorporate things into the regular classrooms in in learning and making connections to how when we're learning about disabilities, how it is how it's connected to our policies that we keep in the school. Elizabeth, so uh the person who did the restorative I I assume that the uh restorative training circles are still part of Oops, it's telling me to put my hand down. The restorative training surgical is that all part of the um the uh January 6th um day that you did, Tracy. Okay. Yeah, there was. Yeah, that was just for the one day then

106the restorative circles. Well, they came back. They did um the early release day that we just had and I know Weathersfield had their support staff. It was I mean it was open to anybody to participate in that. And then also last year Sergio at the elementary school did a couple I think he did three like afternoon sessions for teachers. Um but yes, that's So that's another question. Are support staff also receiving all of these? Um they are they are receiving um any professional development that is done at the SU level. Um they are included and yes their contract allows it now. Great. Because one of the the one of the reasons that I am a legislator today is that I I want to make sure that every single person who comes into contact with a

107student has the same training. Um because really important from bus drivers to lunch ladies to every single person in between. And uh that's why I'm here because I figured I would be able to get it mandated. It's not because it's not possible. But now that now that you're the superintendent, Christine, it's really important to to uh make sure that it's consistent for everybody that that uh that the adults are modeling everywhere all the time for students. Yep. And it's not, you know, this is separate from the bullying complaints, but this is like the the actual scaffolding that that is missing. Um, and it's really concerning to me. And I do appreciate I I I do appreciate the efforts that you've taken, but I think, you know, the for example, the human rights commission coming and

108and presenting uh that should be that was That was the thing down in Springfield that I think you said that four people went to with you. No, yes, there were four people that went to that, but um um in January we had them come and they did a training um I think that was all staff for uh what was it? An hour and a half, Tracy? They did that was an afternoon. So, it wasn't with all staff. But, I mean, Elizabeth, I think to your point, you know, we we're we're already looking at the schedule coming back to school and we have a block of time reserved that hopefully, you know, the human rights commission can can fill so that we're starting off the year, you know, with everybody on the same page and getting

109the getting what you're talking about. Because the when you're talking about hazing, harassment, and bullying, what the Human Rights Commission says, okay? And let me just explain something to you from up here, the state level. We don't have a justice department in the United States government anymore. We don't. And we don't have a justice department in our education, our federal education system. So what we have now, all we have is the Human Rights Commission as our ceiling. And they can't do it because it requires traumatized kids to have to go and uh wait two years because they're that backed up to go and be retraumatized by retelling their story to lawyers and then possibly go to court and have to retell their story again. It's not right. It is on us to take care of

110this at our own local level. And I'm sorry to be hard on you guys, but the Human Rights Commission actually coming in and offering to train you on how to stop this from going on. Not the not not that Heather Lynn's uh presentation isn't important, but it needs to be balanced with how to how to fix this. Uh Kate has her hand up. No, no apologies. Kate, I kind of wanted to say and and you know to Elizabeth, I I hear you and I'm with you and I will publicly say right now that I was very wrong. I was one of the people that said these equity tickets, they're going to have us chasing after so much stuff because they're going to be anonymous and or people are going to use them as a joke.

111And I said to my staffing, these equity tickets, and I've said to Tracy time and time again, are the best thing that has ever happened to us because all my worst fears didn't come true. I've only had one anonymous one the whole year. I was able to track it down by a time stamp. I've only had one time that two kids tried tried to make a joke out of it. But having just that outlet for the reporting that is easy that is staff and students are able to um has brought to light the day-to-day stuff that wasn't getting reported. Um and so I hear you. I know I wanted to say that that has been one of the greatest gifts and I think that that will lead to um more changes that you are looking

112for. Thank you. Thank you K. Can I ask you a quick question? Yeah. You said that support staff is now getting training. Is that new this year? Like was this the first year that that's uh I think it's the second year they they we had they had some days where they were trained in the past. They had less days. The contract is offering more of the PD days that we all get as a whole SU in their contract. Yeah. And it's still tricky because there's different professional development that they need. So it's it's differentiating the professional development, figuring out what everybody needs and then trying to figure out what each group needs. So, um that is high priority only new curriculum director's um task list. Um and she's helping to plan for next year. So,

113um I think there's one more slide. There's things that were um the last three um was the two students I had mentioned before. All students were invited to be a part of the train the trainer, but I think they're only taking two um from each school and we did get two students who are going this week to do that training and I said they'll come back and share that with the board at a later date this year. Um, another things we're working to address is making better transitions, making people students um helping them to understand what it is going into middle school or high school um making the transitions um enough for each student. We I've talked to a couple parents about like three shadow days I think we had last year and going beyond

114that when any any student wants more than that we also have a lot of time in summer academy to give some personalized attention to students who'd rather see the building when there's not a lot of people around and things like that. So we also have like four weeks in the summer academy to do even more individualized transitions to support students who are worried about coming to middle school on top of the planned transition shadow days. And we had um I don't I think we had very small leadership group last year. This year we have three in the middle school. I know in the high school we have um our lighthouse team in the high school. But in the middle school we have three weekly meetings with the student lighthouse team every Tuesday. We have a

115kindness group that meets every Monday and we have um our student support team of mostly our mental health clinician team who support lunch a quiet lunch space for anybody who wants it daily. So we have three things that are running regularly for leadership groups. Okay. Right. So, I appreciate the presentation and the commentary on that, too. I think that that was helpful. Um, I know there's some public comment on this. I'm not going to read the whole spiel again, but um, just ask that people keep the three minutes. Um, and just in the interest of having that be smooth, what I'll do is when it gets to about two I'll keep the time here. When it gets to be about two and a half, I'll just kind of like flash through and let you uh

116I don't mean to be rude, but mine is not going to be two minutes. And the reason is because I was asked to come here and share this information and I wrote it down to condense it as much as possible. It's not going to be three minutes. Um but I've been sharing this information with the board for a year and a half and then I was asked to share it here. Um so respectfully I'm going to go over three minutes. Okay. And we not to be rude but there's just a lot to share and I want to share some background. I'm also going to speak for two people because my daughter wanted to share but she's sick. So she asked me to share her story and then I want to share my concerns things. Okay.

117Okay. I hope you're um Okay. So I wrote this down. Um I'm Liz Frederick. Um I have two kids in the bridge right now. First grade and sixth grade. and I have a seventh grader in Weathersfield um because we had to leave the district in Poland. Um so that's our background here. Um I wrote this down. So what I'm going to share is really hard for you to share. Um so our experience in this SU closely aligns with the YBS survey results um that we all saw and I want to briefly tell my daughter's story with her permission. Um she's currently 13. She's autistic. She identifies as LGBTQ plus and has a very diverse family. Um, in our schools, multiple schools, she's been repeatedly mocked for her autism, with students calling her stupid, the Rword,

118and making jokes about catching it. She's been repeatedly called gender-based swear words from both boys and girls. She's been harassed verbally and physically by boys. More recently, been told, "Your body, my choice." She has been mocked for her family's political affiliation, been called homophobic slurs, particularly by boys, and has been made fun of over and over again for having a trans family member and told that trans people should cease to exist. So, some of this started in sixth grade, starting with a student who was attending ABS through interd district choice from Windsor, and then it was piled on by other students. Um this was reported, the school responded. There were investigations, the behavior continued. There were more investigations. Um two of which were found to be confirmation of bullying. Um there were restorative practices put

119into place. There was lots of conversation. There was education. At one point there was an inschool suspension of an impending student. Um there was a safety plan put in place which ultimately failed and many many hours of staff time, our time, student learning time was all sunk into this issue and nothing worked. And you know I just want to be clear that all of the staff members in including the principal and the support staff worked so hard on this issue. Um, but I think that we don't have the system in place to actually deal with this issue. Um, when you're you're dealing with behaviors this severe, um, my daughter was a high achieving student who suddenly couldn't learn. She couldn't access her education. She didn't feel safe coming to school. Her mental health plummeted and

120she lost faith in adults and our system to protect her. Finally, after 5 months and no progress, we left the school. To be clear, we left a school that we absolutely love. We love this school, a place that was her home since kindergarten because they were unable to keep the environment safe for her. Like, it's just overwhelming that to me, it's it's unbelievable to me that we can't keep students safe, especially these small schools. Um, again, I want to acknowledge the effort that was put in, but it became clear that talking and restorative practices were not going to change student behavior. and they weren't willing to remove the offending student and disciplining others. So leaving was a hard decision, but it was the only choice he had. Over the next few months, our daughter had

121to enter into a new school mid year, carrying a lot of trauma, a feeling of abandonment, and also dealing with the fallout from students who were still reaching out to her from her old school. Um, eventually the prolonged stress and the damage to herself were nearly took her life. And I don't think people understand Bullying can destroy someone until they experience it with their own child. My daughter is not the only child in our district who struggled to literally survive the experience of being bullied and the damage rippled out to every other member of our family. Now, changing schools made a huge difference. She's currently thriving academically, has friends, participates in bands, band chorus, and theater. But that's her background. This is what she wanted me to share and this is why I'm so passionate

122about the issue and I'd like to share my concerns. The YRBS statistics are telling my daughter's story over and over again. We have widespread bullying, horrible mental health for our female and our LGBTQ students. I've also learned that three other students have left Windsor this year doing due to bullying or negative peer interactions, whether they qualified as bullying or not. But either way, three students have left this school year because the situation was bad enough they didn't feel safe in school. Um it's and zero left. We to be clear, zero students have left who have been homeless. Okay, this was data that was gathered from Christine. Thank you. Um, it's very frustrating to me to watch the SU board be presented with these statistics a couple weeks ago and then all of the talk was

123about equity training and Black History Month projects and there's no mention of discipline. Like, and I'm not talking about just discipline when things get so bad the school has to open a bullying investigation because that's also not working. But the day-to-day discipline when kids are being faced with sexist, racist, homophobic, or just plain cruel behavior that goes unchecked, that probably doesn't meet the narrow qualifications of HHP. Things that when I was in school 30 years ago were considered unacceptable, but now are just considered how kids are, or worse, free speech. Um, you guys are completely missing the critical piece here, which is discipline. We need adults to say this is not how you treat others and actually mean it. And they need to say it every single time. And we need adults to say if

124you're making this environment safe, you're out of here until you can figure out how to treat others with respect. The fact that we're allowing this to just continue and the kids are still here and they're still terrorizing other kids is completely unacceptable. Um, it like you can tell us that it's happening, but I know it's not happening when you have stats that tell us that three students have been bullied so badly this year that they've left school. And there were zero explosions. Like these three are likely just a fraction of what's going on. There were actually comments on a recent Facebook post from several families who have said their child has been bullied or is being bullied at Windsor. Comments about how they can't believe the behaviors they let slide. And I talked to some

125of these families and I know that in least in at least one case, a student was physically assaulted and unironically by a student who used to push around my daughter on the kindergarten playground and he's still in school. This shows a failure of the administration in addressing student behavior and it shows a failure at keeping kids safe. If sometimes you have got to make a hard choice, sometimes you have to choose between the bully and the bully. And it seems like you guys aren't choosing, you're choosing the bullies. In my view, this all starts and ends with discipline. Like learning happens within the structure that the adults create. Kids need that structure. And speaking of the survey that we were just looking at, there's another slide on that survey that says less than half of

126students say they don't think their school has school clear rules and consequences. This is a discipline failure, a failure to provide structure which students need and is a huge failure on the part of the administration. More than half the kids don't even know what their behavior expectations are or what their consequences will be for breaking them. Parents talk and kids talk. So, I know for a fact that some of the kids who bullied my daughter are still actively bullying kids at Windsor Middle School and High School. Somehow, these students have made it to seventh, 8th, and 9th grade with no lessons learned. What's going to happen when they graduate school and enter the workforce and haven't learned how to respect others who are different from them? 36% of female high school students reported unwanted sexual

127behaviors perpetrated on them at school. What's going to happen when these young men enter the workforce? Like this is the job of adults. Our behavior standards in this district are so low they're practically on the floor. We expect so little of our students and follow through on less. And by doing so, we're greatly underestimating their abilities and their potential. And to be fair to teachers who are amazing and who I know are doing their best in a rough situation, I acknowledge that the majority of these issues start with parents. The school's job is to ensure a safe environment and the parents job is to raise kind and respectful kids. Neither of those things are happening. So given the fact that we are, I would say, at a crisis level with bullying and negative behaviors, where

128is the communication to the parents? Where are the letters to the community? Where are the behavior standards and consequences outlined so parents can actually understand them? Before you say the handbook, there's language in there that's vague at best and buried under all kinds of other stuff. Do you think the parents of these kids are the ones that are coming to meetings and doing their own research on bullying statistics? Email out the stats when you get them to all the parents. These stats that we looked at tonight, email them out. Why are they a secret? There's no transparency here. And apparently, even when we have stats shown, they're not even correct. Like it feels to me like the district is focusing more on their image than on fixing the problem. What is the hesitation of bringing

129parents into the conversation about behavior expectations and consequences? There's no reason it can't be done. I've even heard several stories where the parents offending students weren't informed of their child's behavior until it got to the point of an investigation or where parents spent five, six weeks asking for a situation to be resolved before even getting an email response. What happened to us when we reported inappropriate contact conduct from a boy at a joint ABS farmer wilderness trip? It took us six weeks to even get a response from Windsor Middle School. And even then, the outcome was we asked him and he said he didn't do it. No other information provided to us. And I had to email and email and email to get a response. So, as a parent, I'm begging the principles and superintendent

130to actually address student behaviors, not just through, you know, equity trainings for staff, but through actual structure and discipline on the day-to-day and open communication with parents. My sixth grader, my middle child, who doesn't even fall into any of the high-risisk categories for bullying, has already experienced harassment on the bus by Windsor Middle School students. She'll be in seventh grade next year. She's shy and sensitive and kind. And as a parent, I feel really uncomfortable sending her there. Like, I shouldn't feel that way. I don't want to speak for others, but I know I'm not the only one that feels that way. School should be a place where students go to learn and grow and feel respected, not a place where they are torn down, their self-esteem shattered, and feel their trust. Thank you. Thank

131you. Liz say I have a son this year 12y old here in Albert Bridge and my 15year-old was a Windsor due to being assaulted three times the old school year. Um he is He was punched in the back of the head by student and the response was it only lasted 5 seconds. The second time he was forcibly pulled down attempted to p throw him down set of stairs and the response was the candidates did not see. The third one which resulted in less pulling from one school involved a title N investigation because this I don't know exactly what this classification might be getting bisexual whatever but uh the investigation took from November to February and the outcome of the investigation was there was not enough substantiation to warrant a title N followup but there was

132some behavior that warranty counseling. Uh we couldn't keep our side. Um it it was incredibly violent. Um a little more background. My family's lived in Windsor for 125 years. We've had somebody in the winter school system for over 80 years. Um when his mom and I got together, I was very confident that winter school was going to do it for myself, my sisters, my brothers, my parents. It didn't. Kindergartenly received three concussions. Two of them required medical attention. They called them to win school and moved out here at the North L because of Albert Bridge. Albert Bridge was an exceptional school for my son. No issues for first grade until sixth grade. Seventh grade back to Windsor. You had no choice. But my choice was and he assaulted me again. He said that was the

133seventh grade again. Was that okay? Yeah. Oh, he got punched by one student who was a younger grade than him. But falling down the stairs, him getting down the stairs was the same year, which it wasn't even him who touched the student. It was another student who had touched the kid and grabbed a hold of Aiden and tried ripping him down the stairs. Had he not been holding on to the banister, he would have gone down the stairs. Um, and then the same kid that um sexually assaulted him this year um used to hold the doors shut on him so he couldn't go outside for recess and would block him from going to his classrooms by holding the door with another student so he couldn't get through the doors. Yeah. The thing about the title

134N investigation was stunning the contradictions. None of the I understand lining up all the stories that have been the same was highly suspicious. But every version of the witnesses was different. It was very low consistency. Was the teacher there? Wasn't the teacher there. What did you see? What did you see? I don't remember doing anything. I don't recall that day. I don't recall that day. One other student said he did hear Aiden hollering stop. So he ran to his desk. Um just everyone had a different story but clearly there was no schoolwork being done in that classroom from all the reports that were written from the students or that were questioned by the students. The teacher had no control of the classroom whatsoever. Um but yet our child is at mother skills. Yeah. And those

135boys are still there. Yeah. Um the thing was is that um we had this struggle to get our son removed from Wednesday. He was out of school for five weeks, six weeks until we were able to get him to school. It was an epic battle. Once at Weatherfield, completely different school. The teacher, the principal, administrator is very direct nonsense and there's a zero tolerance policy and I admire it. I mean the school is so much more structured than I understand it's a lot smaller than I went to Windsor. My whole family went and my class I was 80 something my sister was over 150 something and one of my brothers was 200 plus students in one class and no issue anywhere close to this. If there was something significant was dealt with touch base there

136was discipline. There was an expectation that the offenders will be held accountable and the victim will get the help they need. It's just not happen. Um I'm Jess Brody. I have a um son who's in fifth grade and twins girls that are in second grade. Um none of them are bullies and none of them have been bullied. So, why am I here? Um, I'm here because one, I wanted to support families that have been telling this. Um, I'm also our ABS school um, CTO president. Um, so I can tell you that I've heard from several families about various concerns, bullying being one of them. Um, and I just want to share in support of what you guys are saying, even though my kids are not bullies or being bullied as far as I know, they

137are seeing this and they are telling me and it is affecting them. So whether they're being bullied or not, they are still seeing it and it is still affecting them. And to Liz's point on discipline, um I work in the field of parks and recreation and I have my entire career and it's very clear for a program that you pay for whether it's summer camp or you sports there's a code of conduct for both parents and children and if you don't meet that code of conduct you are pulled from that sport you are not allowed at that summer camp if you go through this criteria. So, I'm sitting here listening to all this and I'm like, why is it so hard to discipline students when I see the same kids when they're not in school?

138I see them in summer camps and I see them in after school programs and there's different sets of rules that these kids like they're their parents are paying for them to go to these programs. It's not about like public school is free and it's for everyone. like they're paying, but if they're misbehaving, they're not going to be allowed to go there because they're interrupting everyone else that's trying to play. So, I don't have skin in the game, I guess, like some of these guys, but I just wanted to share my experience as like the non-affected, if you will. Um, that it is still affecting everyone. Appreciate that perspective. Any other comments for um I I uh my name is Ashley Nity. I have a first grader that goes here to Albert Bridge um who he

139is not bullied and does not bully other kids. We actually really love the school. Um but I'm kind of here I was someone who was bullied in high school and had a suicide attempt because of it. Um, and I also work in the mental health field in child and adolescent psychiatry. So, I do see a lot of this um a lot of this on a daily basis. Um and yeah, it it really is um kind of like a shame that that there are the children and adolesccents that are being bullied are the ones that are having to leave. Um because with all children are just so like influential to each other and it's kind of it it is disturbing knowing that the the ones that are doing the bullying are staying in school and having

140influence over all of the other other students. Um so yeah thank you. All right, I'll speak to you. Um, my name is Matt Frederick. Um, as Liz said, we've got three kids. Um, only two of them are currently in the district. Um, a seventh grader in Weathersfield and a sixth grader here at ABS and a first grader at ABS. Um, the discipline thing I think it's gotten across, but I I want to go a step above that and talk about accountability because it's on you guys to make sure this system is working and it it isn't, right? So the parents are at fault a lot of times, right? They they send you students who are not ready to learn. They have a hard time focusing when they're in school. They act out. They misbehave. They

141treat the other kids poorly. The communication from you to these parents isn't satisfactory. I mean, it is not getting the point across to them. So that that will always be a problem until you all take a firmer stance against it. Beyond that, when it fails, right, if it fails at the teacher level, right, it's up to the principles to make sure that those teachers understand where they're failing. When that doesn't happen, it's up to the superintendent to make sure that the principles understand. And when that doesn't happen, it's up to you guys to make sure the superintendent understands. And I don't think any of those steps are being properly monitored. I don't think the principles are doing enough to make sure that their teachers understand what they should be enforcing. I don't think, as Liz

142said, that the students even know all the rules or what the consequences of breaking them are. Um, some of the consequences, like the restorative circles, frankly, I've seen no success in them at all. It would work against if if all of the parties involved are willing, that's a great solution. But when you're trying to force the restorative justice, when one party doesn't even think that they've done wrong, which is what we went through here, you're not going to get positive outcome. And there's no one enforcing it to make sure that change happens. So, I don't know ultimately where it is. It seems to me that the school board needs to be firmer. And I know a lot of y'all personally between the people on Zoom and the people in this room, y'all are nice people,

143right? I I think Miss Reed, you're the only one I don't know, right? I'm sure you're a lovely person as well. She is. I I have a lot of respect for you all as people, but I need you to be firmer in making sure that my kids are safe and thank you. Any other comments? Also, I think I had three minutes. Uh, any other comments from administration board members? I really appreciate you all coming and sharing your stories. I know that should not be easy. Thank you. And I will say I'm appreciative that you're here. I've been involved in some of the incidents that I happened and we've got some work to do. We all acknowledge that it's it's not what you're saying is true. Um it is public school. All kids have a right.

144Um but it doesn't mean that um it it needs to be a safe place for everybody. So, um I hear what you're saying about um making sure students understand the rules and consequences that ET followed. I think our intent in creating the behavior um matrix which is work that's been ongoing. Um we say it's still in draft form because we wanted to try it out um and see how um see how it worked. I mean that that needs to go out public and people need to understand what their goals are and what the consequences are um that are outlined um I think some of some of what we deal with as administrators is not every case is the same. So when you have it's never black and white, black and white. So there's sometimes there's

145gray and so I think trying out that behavior matrix is to see if it fits, if it's working. Um and sometimes there's variance in there depending on the situation. So um but I I hear you. We hear you and we've got work to do and we're going to go. So appreciate you and um I'm I'm sorry for the experience that your that your kids have had. This doesn't fix it. I just want to acknowledge it. Yes. Thank you. That that that part is good and I I don't I don't want to speak too long again, but just to say these students are our future leaders. So the lessons they learn in school, good and bad, are how they will lead us in the future. and I don't love it. So, oh, um I don't I

146don't think we highlighted parents either because I think like Matt said, like we all appreciate all the stuff you guys do. Um, and I think communication with parents could be better, but if there's a way, um, I don't know what it would look like because I'm not in school administration, but like a way for parents to get together and voice their concerns like in a in a more informal environment that's not so rigid on like a public meeting. Um, because like you said, like parents talk and people talk and everyone knows what's going on, but is that even being related to you? Um and then expectations of parents too because like was highlighted you know if a child is coming to you in a state from their their home life that is difficult how can

147you help the parents on that end um to understand like their expectations too um and what can be done to help communicate and train I guess the parents. So just to add on that, my family's legacy of Windsor is very deep. 125 years and Windsor High School used to be a real crown in the house school. There's pride and people want to go to Windsor. I mean my freshman class, we had West Windsor, Scott Cornish, everybody wanted to come to Windsor because of his reputation. I think that reputation's been tarnished and now it's getting a bad reputation. So image is everything in these schools pretty much anything in life and to have that not that positive image anymore. It's going to be very harmful for and I think that the goal is to bring Windsor

148back to that standard it was back in the day. I just kind of had something else to add. Um, and I don't know what what if anything is being done in these circumstances, but not only for those being bullied, but those that are doing the bullying. Um, like what kind of supports are being offered to them as far as like mental health supports, community supports? Um it just it seems like um that should definitely be be a big part of it as well besides just what's being done in school like families um giving families resources um and just support to to deal with um like the behavioral issues. And then um you know the the whole mental aspect that comes with being bullied you know kids need support after going through that. Thank you. Um

149are there any any more comments that we should I appreciate everybody's input on this. It's been extremely valuable. I just have a quick thing. Um, so like, um, Nicole used to be a counselor that would go around from Elbert Ridge, Windsor, Weathersfield, and offer support for kids. Um, which my kids were seeing her, but apparently she has a different role now is what we were told. So, unless I'm wrong, you guys are looking at me. Look at me. You're talking. Yeah. So, now that support that is desperately needed while at school is not being offered anymore. I think um in her role we have more than one and I think I could be wrong but I believe it's just different schools have serviced by different school psychologists and we don't have enough resources. We have

150kids who need help that don't fit the priorities. Well, I mean my boys were getting services when they're not and they do fit the criteria. So it just got pulled out this year. they were seeing her and then they had stopped. I just want to say on that like I think it's really important that we do offer support to kids. It is I've noticed in the past that our reaction to these types of situations is to focus a lot on the victim and how do we help the victim deal with being in the school which I think is important but it takes a lot of focus off the fact that there's a problem. Um, and so much of it is like, let's send the the victim of bullying to the guidance counselor or let's send

151them to a different school. Um, and while those things need to be in place, like I don't my fear is that people will think, oh, we're doing that, and then pat themselves on the back that the problem is solved. And that is that's just like a solution to a problem we shouldn't even have. So, just to be clear, so I'll uh I'll pick that up and wrap this conversation up. I I appreciate everybody's input on this. Um I know we've let it kind of be a little bit more expensive than usual, but I think this is something that really has uh this issue has come to my attention multiple times over the last several years. Um I think the rest of the board can speak to that too. Um, and it uh it's extremely valuable

152um for you all to come here and share your experiences and your insight. And I know that takes an incredible amount of vulnerability and um and you bravery really to to stand up and give voice to that to that experience that you're having with families that your students are having our schools. Um, it's apparent to me both from what I've heard over the years, but especially from what I've heard tonight from from the kind of range of perspectives that we have that I think that there there are myriad issues that need to be sort of approached in tandem in order to to make the kind of changes in our school in our our buildings in this district which is Albert Bridge and Windsor that need to be made. I think just from tonight I would

153identify I think some clear communication and materials around expectations. Um I'm just thinking of actionable things that have popped up from what everyone's saying. You know administration, parents, other board members. Um I think uh more regular data reporting is something that I would like to see um that that is clearly going out to parents on this. I think that that's um you know I know that we see it regularly in board meetings but I I can appreciate that that isn't always the best venue for the clear and consistent communication of data. So I think looking at other channels to get that across uh clearly to folks kind of where things are at and then what functionally is being done to address them uh in some way shape or form. um at at the core of

154it, you know, the implementation of these policies, I think it was acknowledged earlier a lot at the policy level, a lot of this does come directly from compliance with state law. And where the rubber hits the road on this is in is in the procedures and the implementation of those procedures in in our buildings. Um, so I I mean my expectation is that is that the implementation is consistent, is that training is consistent, um, and that data reporting is consistent. And I think that I think that tonight and I I appreciate the hard work you all do, but I think that we're seeing that there does need to be some material improvement on all of those fronts. Um, so that's something that I I certainly I I I think this is a discussion that we're

155going to want to continue um in a subsequent meeting and come up with some sort of a plan. I think I'd like to hear that from you all what what a data reporting plan is on this and how we're making some material improvements um as a starting point. um when it comes to arriving at a solution um I know that what I bring to this particular role is uh a commitment to continuous improvement. There is no achieving the ideal state when we're dealing with when we're working in a school system. there's always improvement that's going to have to be made and I think that our our prioritization of this particular issue and I think behavior in general um and expectations around behavior you know across that spectrum uh it the the highest level of this

156I think is that that just needs to rise a couple of rungs up the ladder of priority and we need to we need to have some sustained conversation and focus on that. So, and I'll I'll just underscore again, I think that having everybody who is involved in this in the same room, our administrators, our board, students, parents, you know, we might have some teachers still online. Um, it's valuable to have us all be level setting this stuff so we can have a clear conversation and understand where we need to go forward. Um, but it does need to be a continuous process. Um, and you know, speaking just personally as as only one board member, you know, I I don't have kids in the school. Uh so it's when I say how valuable it is to

157hear from all you it is incredibly valuable. There are other board members who have who have students who I speak with but um you know I I rely on that input. So I hope that you continue reaching out if this that is an issue. I know I know I've spoken to many of you and when it comes to individual cases there are legal barriers to any member of the board having a direct involvement as to how those go. communications around like frustrations around them, process issues, that kind of stuff. That's where we can we can have input and we can we can play best serve our role of uh of making improvements that you know clearly need to be made. So yeah, I appreciate you all being here. I know this has been a late

158one and we've kind of expanded letting folks really just like get all the information out because I think it's something that we need to hear. So I think with that we uh we are going to move on to the rest of our agenda. Y right. Yeah, I was gonna say nobody's hostage. There you go. It's I can't believe it. So, just to keep things rolling, um we're on to item D, which is um which is substitute pay. Yeah. So, um at the SU level, um we talked about setting a rate of $150 a day. Um, but that needs to be approved at every board, um, every local board because it's local budget funds that pay those substitute teachers. Um, I can tell you that the range the range of pay in the area is from

159125. Thank you. Thanks. 125 to $175. Um, which is why I think the SU board settled at 150. Um, I was asked by Weathersfield to get numbers on what we're actually spending. So I got them for everybody in case you were interested. So in um in Mount Scutney I will start with um 2022 we had um about we budgeted 130,000 we spent 73,000. In 2023, we budgeted. Sorry, it's very small. Oh, that's got to be a mistake. We budgeted 8,000 and spent 108,000. You told you told me this and I thought we had talked about like was that regular like traditional subs and not the not the perma subs? Yes. And then in 2024 we budgeted 132, we spent 124, so pretty close. This year we budgeted 149 and we are over by $28,000. Or

160it could have been that the first time we had the permabs, it was the first time we had permabs, we had eser money the first time we had. Yeah, I think we did. I think that's why it Yeah, we're over budgeting our subline this year. Is it the Is it the need for so many subs that could create an environment that Yes. that is just out of control. We do have um I mean we could start recording on Yeah. stuff. How many days we've had a complete staff this year? We talked about it a lot. I think three three days we had complete staff. Yeah. It's a lot. It's different when a teacher can take over a class, right? But when there's just a sub in a high school class, we just don't know. Yeah.

161I think what um it's good to hear that data about how much we're spending on it because I think you know it seems like it's been a little bit all over the map, but it correct me if I'm wrong because I'm trying to recall what you just said, but more it's been more common for us to be close or over the budgeted amount and we're still not feeling like we're able to access subs. Correct. Um Okay. So, I mean that's something that I think as we go to budget season we really need to be aware of um because Yeah. Uh, and I will say when when we're pulling people to sub, which happens like we're pulling support staff to sub for a teacher. Yes. Then there are less people doing the jobs in the classrooms

162and it does lend itself to other issues. My question is around the support staff. Like I completely understand pulling support staff um affects students. My question is when the support staff is pulled to sub, do they get a stipen a different I'm just curious of what that looks like for our budget. Most of the support staff make more than what the sub pay is. So So if they didn't, they would get the higher pay. That's how it's currently written in the contract. Okay. Yeah. So I think we should I just that like I think what Davis is saying at budget season like it that number could be a lot higher if we're I mean it's something we have to think about right like consider Yeah. To me it underscores the reality that you know in

163order for us to be able to deliver the services that we need to we need to be willing and able to spend the amount that it takes us to get those services. And I think it's that it's that thing that comes up frequently where if we're if we're undershooting on what we should be providing for compensation both in the budget and and as an hourly or as a stipend um and then we're not able to get those folks then you know it creates a systemic issue where we're pulling support staff and then that has knock on effects. Sorry, Bill's not here, but maybe you guys know. What is the uh amount of time that a teacher gets for sick days? They get 15 days a year. If you're a new teacher, you have to give

164two to 13. If you're a first year teacher and you have 15 normally, but they roll, Nancy, if you don't use them. If you don't use them, you could have 30 the next year. When I left teaching, I had 146 days. Yeah. I was never absent. Yeah. Oh, I had a one. They do. We did, I think, negotiate a little. They get a little bit of pay for so many days if I can't remember the exact language. It's it's not a lot, but we thought it might incentivized Christine. Those numbers though for subbing our subs for support staff and teachers, right? So, it's not just teachers. Yeah, we often don't get support staff subs. That's just it's just teachers mostly. our permissub money and our regular day subs that come in that get called in

165and our subs permubs make make a they have a contract because they're there every day so they make more than a substitute there's usually not a sub called for a support staff member they're covering for each other and we're just thin on staff when that happens correct so so the the question before us right now is if we will approve what is it 150 50. Mhm. The daily rate 150 daily rate and that's up from fees for money 125 up from 125. Y okay and I think I think I recall and correct me if I'm wrong the range that we were looking at for districts around here was 125 to 175 125 to 175. So we're falling right about the mean. Yeah. I mean I think I think that's acceptable. All right. Um I will

166Yeah. I will take a motion to uh set our sub daily pay rate at $150. So moved. Second. All right. Any further discussion? Going once, going twice. I'm not hearing it. All right. And once again, um because we're going to roll with it, I will take a voice vote on this. So all of those in favor uh please say I. I I I as well. Uh those opposed extensions. Okay. All right. So 150 is our new rate. Um awesome. Thank you. All right. Yeah. Thanks for I see an invitation from you. Are we having that meeting? Uh we have resation. Yep. Uh so we're on to item E. Resignation. Got one. Kate's got one. Say that's plural. letter March 17th. Dear Colleen and Christine, I'm writing to inform you that I will be resigning at

167the end of 2425 school year. I have appreciated the opportunity to work in this district and I will be moving to seek employment in Massachusetts where my partner lives. Thank you. Anya Hamilton, what did she teach? Middle school writing. And Kate has one that came in today and I think if we get the board's approval we can post immediately otherwise we have to wait. So mine it's heartbreaking but it's Lauren Warner and it's simply because she has a commute an hour and a half each way each day and well I guess they know because they were at the board meeting tonight. I let her know uh other work tonight. Talk to them tomorrow. But um she is very invested. We've never really done it this way. She's very invested in being part of the process

168to find the next theater teacher. So she could so there could be consistency in her plans. I mean what she has done for our program in the two years she's been here has been of amazing and she would like to make sure that that's continued. I'm sure Brian who is on here tonight, he worked very closely with Lauren. He'll be stability and making sure it is continued. But the just the amount of experiences those kids are able to have in the festivals they were able to attend um it's been remarkable and it's really increased our theater um participation. So she has requested that she be part of the process to find the next one which we have never done before. Um so Christine, that would be a question for you. Yeah. Yes, thank you. I

169think we can do that. It's important. Um, can you just what was the just remind me the name of the first person? Piñata Hamilton. Is are they both staying until the end of the school year? Yes. Yes. Is that okay? He I don't even know what the first thing is. Okay. All right. Um, well, I'm sad to see both of these uh both of these teachers go and I I am more personally familiar with the workers that I've seen some really amazing theater presentations and I I also know those were pretty big shoes to fill um with uh Julia having been there for 20 plus years. Long time. Yeah. Um but um glad she wants to be part of the process. Um so I will take a motion to accept the resignations of Anya Hamilton

170and Lauren Warner. So moved. Not going to get involved. Is there a second? Second, Elizabeth. All right. Any further discussion? All right. Hearing none. Uh I will take a voice vote to approve these resignations. All those in favor? I I I opposed. So I opposed abstensions. All right. So we've approved those resignations. As sad as I am to uh Yeah. How long has been with us? This was our first year. So last but not least, um we just need to briefly talk about and actually you know what? So, we have community that are scheduling on here. Um, it's really late. Next one. This is something that we can talk about. Well, I'm just gonna ask you all because I I did send this out via email. Um, just a reminder, we can do this via

171email. We don't need to spend time here doing this. Um, so I'm just gonna everybody in the board, I'm going to send the email again and I would just ask please within the next week, let me know which dates work for you. I think I only heard back I'll put you on the spot. I only heard back from about two. Uh, and scheduling is something that we we truly do not have to do in the space. Um, so I am going to table that one and take it offline. Uh, and I'll I'll be way more annoying about getting those times through. I might even make one of my fun Google Doc grids so we all know when it works. Um, think of one dinner instead of two. Yep. And we can talk about that all.

172That's scheduling. We don't have to talk about it in the setting. So, I'm just going to table that one. We'll take it offline. All right. setting the next agenda. Um, I'm gonna throw out there just to continue the carrying on from that bullying conversation. I just think that behavior as a general item should be on there. Um, with just those high points like I what I'd like to hear is just some some kind of plan for communication, implementation, um, training. I think the thing that was pretty apparent what was discussed tonight. Um, so I think hearing a report back about what what that's going to look like. Um, and uh, the only thing I would say is I think I don't think at every single meeting that we need to come out, but I maybe

173we think about doing something like a quarterly or by annual update that's focused on that just so we kind of keep the keep that in the air. Um, anything else for the next agenda? Uh, we we have to approve the TAN the text anticipation note. Yes. Y and um we're going to have a presentation um from high school students. Kate's gonna um prepare that for us for next time. Um and I I don't I mean we had thought maybe the student growth report would be ready, but I don't I think May 5th is too soon. I think let's do it in June. Okay. Which report is that? Postar. Yeah. I don't think the kids will be done by then. So Okay. Yeah. I'm taking July and August. just um I don't think we've decided that

174yet. Sorry. Can we maybe talk about that? Yeah, yeah, we can talk about that in May. I think that's a good time to talk about it. Cool. Got it. So, summer scheduling. Y Okay, that's it. All right. Well, there we go. Nice short agenda to book end our long agenda. All right. Uh eight. Any need for an executive session? I don't have one. You all don't have one. All right. Um, in that case, I will uh take a motion to adjourn or I I'll if there's nobody who objects, I'll adjourn the meeting at uh 9:08 p.m. tonight. Thank you. All right. Hearing no objections, we're adjourned. I did, Elizabeth. I did the thing. Davis. All right. Thanks for sticking out elongating everyone. I think I think that was a