001it is 6:30 and call this meeting to order on January 22nd 2024 that's going to take a while to get used to um any changes additions to the agenda I don't have I'm kind of thinking well looking at the agenda um you the 2425 calendar is in the superintendent report but are we also going to discuss it yeah we should okay you want just discuss where it is or yep and then you can make a decision and action under actions if you want okay or motions um any from the thetha gallery call it okay um approval of the minutes anyone has has read it again long minutes this time all in favor of uh okay well any changes comments discussion about last month's minutes the only comment I had didn't run over I know you
002did a good job okay all in favor um say I I I all oppose say nay extensions okay passes unanimously and I can shut that open my contract um public participation announcements public comments is not legally required but we believe it is crucial for us to hear from our community members about their concerns over issues do these meetings are board models for our students how to conduct public discourse and that the board and members of our community can approach contal issues in a civil and constructive man and demonstrate mutual respect having said that please note that the board is here to listen the public comment period is not designed for discussion please start by identifying yourself in what town you reside in any public participation and or announcements sure I saw in public Colleen looking
003for my button I just wanted to um quickly mention that that our Heartland um School Board is has has an opening for and we're running out of time for the petition to get filled out so there's anybody out there it's a great time over here thank you also I know that this week that um on Thursday the um High School Middle High they have their science project science fair sence and in the afternoon the seniors have seniors or Juniors senior Capstone senior capstones they have so for those who are interested in just coming by and participating um that sounds like a real fun fun day it's good I have to say the iset ABS is throws in over have to watch Daniel skating for real for the first time oh okay administrative report all right
004Tracy's gonna start I thought so y but I'm handing it off to you okay all right good evening everybody let me uh bring up my screen here okay y all right um all right uh first off I just want to say thank you thank you thank you to everybody who filled out the um survey I'm going to share some of your Anonymous responses as we scroll through this but also just wanted to start and please feel free anybody jump in anytime with any questions comments uh or anything else I also recognize it's it's a busy time of year like every time of the year seems to be but again thank you to everybody who did complete that survey okay so just to start some um some updates some spotlights uh couple great things I want
005to mention uh one was that today was the first uh restored practices uh official like training that we had with Windsor middle school students we had uh 12 students show up and they're going to be returning um every month to have uh to work with the greater Falls Community uh Justice Center who is helping to or who's leading these trainings so uh the hope is that by the end of these five sessions that these students are equipped with the skills to be able to actually facilitate uh Circle conversations Community Building um as just as a great practice and what was cool is it's a mix of grades so you had we had sixth grade seventh graders and eighth graders all part of that um that training so uh we're doing it we're doing it I
006feel like people have been talking about restorative practices for years and we are starting to actually do it and we're also going to be meeting with um teachers too so there's going to be some opportunities for staff uh before the end of the school year too which is great so that's what you're seeing on the leand side this was a flyer that I made up for working with Windsor middle school so the second half of that is the restorative practice training I'm also going to be there on the second Mondays of the month because there are so many students who want to do something so we're going to be working with them to uh create bulletin boards and to uh help get some themes integrated into Advisory Group all lots of cool stuff we're we're
007we're going with the students energy uh and they're awesome uh the next thing that y'all are seeing on the slide on the right hand side this is a a pamphlet it's a really it's a pocket guide for how to interrupt how to interrupt harmful hateful things that are said uh some maybe it's bias or microaggressions this is something that now has been shared with Hartland which also sounds like this is something that Harland has used in the past um and Albert bridge and so it's just a way of thinking about if you want to if you hear somebody say something that you don't really understand you think maybe there was some something harmful in that ask a question right like that's what we're focusing on how do we ask questions uh continue to be in
008relationship give people an opportunity to talk through all this anyway it's a guide for interrupting super handy pocket guide uh working on integrating that in the schools couple other updates um one just a teacher Spotlight what you're seeing on the right hand side there um an art teacher from Weathersfield wants to do some multicult cultural art classes this spring and so I'm working with her that's Lisa robarts um to talk about like what's the best way to talk about appreciation and appropriation of art and culture uh with middle school students so pretty cool wanted to highlight that on the leftand side uh March intensive Windsor high school students uh get to pick something to engage with so I offered an opportunity to explore the African-American Heritage Trail in Vermont as part of that learning experience
009in March so we'll see if students sign up for that the other thing big shout out to Britney right we're in the practice we're in a hiring process right now hiring the New Windsor um Elementary principal and so we are actively integrating ways to be more Equitable inclusive in the hiring practice sort of as we are doing the hiring practice so things like setting Folks up with different rubrics like ways to try and mitigate for the biases that we bring in and um anyway just big shout out to Britney and the ways that she's working on integrating this and I know that they're uh also like Christine and me and a few other folks have met once so far but we're meeting again to really look at and help capture some of the things that
010we're doing around hiring and retention uh over time yes I'll pause there yes I just wanted to ask regarding this rubric I that was this something that was um pulled together by Britney and it's it's wonderful I'm just I'm not I can't read it all but I'm seeing bits and pieces of it and the other pieces this something that you will will be integrated moving forward as your excellent thank you yeah that's that's the help yeah yeah thank you Britney thank you everyone else who participated yeah um so we're gonna and we're going to at the end of the process figure out you know what worked what can we continue to grow grow over time so um but yeah again yeah big shout out to Britney for just taking it and being like we're going
011to do this and integrating it as we're as we're doing it cool all right thanks Rebecca anything else to uh add here about spotlights highlights uh hiring anything okay all right well we are going to get into a little bit of cont oh and here was it just organized Again by that theory of change thinking about what's happening that's serving institutional cultural and individual level so just another way of organizing some of the things that are happening okay thank you Tracy I I I do want to say that this you know really helps when you look at institutional cultural and individual it really um brings back and helps clarify something so thank yeah thank you for that feedback and you'll keep seeing this unless I hear from folks who don't want to see it anymore
012but thank you Rebecca all right so now let's get into this uh talking about uh just picking two terms for now diversity and inclusion also realizing that these are two words that aren't yet defined in any of our policies so they're not yet in existence in any of our glossaries so we might want to I'm just noting that I know Christine and I have talked about that so at some point we may want to maybe it's in updating the anti-racism policy we might want to think about what we include uh in terms of definitions so just want to make a note of that um I am going to share some of what you all shared in the survey again it was Anonymous so um just for the purpose of really what the purpose of this
013is is to note that probably anywhere you go if you're in a room full of people as many people as you're in the room full of and you were to ask them all like do you have a definition for diversity you would probably get as many different definitions as there are people in the room right same with inclusion um maybe next time we're actually going to look at equity and equality but that's part of the complexity of doing this work right as complicated as it is to do the work of diversity Equity inclusion it's also Complicated by the fact that we have very different understandings of what these words are so the point of going over the terms isn't to find like the right one it's to find some agreement in this group over time
014of what we think they need because that's that's what's most important right and it's also why this work is always evolving right because the board is going to change you're gonna have other folks come into the board like maybe they have different ideas about what diversity is right um so anyway it's just I know there's some complicated things with policies and once we put in the policy do we revisit it every time they're new board members but the point is is that this work is uh it's important right to keep it evolving based on the group and the people who are working on this work together and for us to have a shared understanding of what these words mean that's that's the main part so I asked you all in the survey about how do
015you define diversity how do you define inclusion what's the relationship between these two things and also what makes inclusion possible um there were a couple other questions in there as well so first we'll take a look at diversity so here are some of the things that you all um describe diversity as being the breath and depth of depth of empirical cultural Human Experience diversity for me is everyone every culture every orientation every religion every spoken language every differing ideas every age and on and on uh inclusion of different races cultures genders in a group organization or Community differences that give you perspectives uh for me population different backgrounds race gender sexuality socioeconomics age nationality ability political perspective full malange of characteristics Traditions thought state of being diverse variety okay I'll pause there anybody notice anything
016about these definitions they're all different yeah they're all different right which is kind of nice right it's like they are as diverse as the word of diversity is I'm gonna I'm gonna offer you a way of thinking about diversity this doesn't mean again this isn't the right way of thinking about it but it is a lot of what you all said right to think about diversity is being the full range of differences similarities visible and non-visible that make each individual unique right so there are some things that we can that we can see maybe some things we don't I know that's that's a little bit ableist to think about seeing maybe there's some things we experience about somebody or we don't right but this idea of the iceberg that we're not always uh um getting
017the full full range of someone or something but diversity basically um what I I used to work with somebody who said diversity is all the things diversity is all the things thank you Melinda for sharing that it's like it can be all the things right and um so I'll just pause there for a second how does that land for you all thinking about diversity in this way it's the full range of all these things that can be differences maybe they're shared um that make us all unique and if you think back to like the uh when we talked about intersectionality right and the work that some of you did reflecting on different aspects of our identity right all of those can be thought those those can be ways that diversity shows up right and you
018named some of those in your list one one of the things that um I as I'm exploring plant-based diets um that I'm realizing is that in order for for us to be healthy um we need a diverse um um range of foods I mean one is not going to do it I I mean not that one is well be good but if you just eat broccoli and that's all you eat you're not you're not going to get the full range of things that you really need to do to for your body to live up to its complete potential so I I as I was reading this information I'm thinking here it is diversity I mean it's this gamut you know that really gives you a much broader picture I love that I love that that
019makes me think of I think it was in Peru like over time there were like hundreds and hundreds of diversity like of potatoes that were grown right and it was like and it also means that if one thing is susceptible to certain conditions right then you have all the rest that can continue to flourish so I love your I love the way that you're thinking about it in terms of health and and um yeah what it offers which is also a great segue into the next part right like it's like diversity can be this thing that can show us what's possible right it's this whole range of things that actually contribute to our own health and vitality in lots of different ways and I wanted to offer you all just a few examples of how
020the might look and one that one that fits within uh the educational context so there was some research it's linked in the slides that I've shared um where if a student they look to see like if a student K through 12 had one teacher one teacher who looked like them throughout their K12 experience they were 133% more likely to go to college okay and so looking like them it could be by race uh maybe gender like some some expression of that one teacher who look like them I think in this case they were looking more at race um if they had two teachers again two teachers who looked like them throughout their K12 uh experience they were 32% more likely to go to college um why is this right it's like if you think about
021it in some ways especially when you think about students like think about our RSU and students who may not have teachers who look like them right there are different even different expectations on students uh specifically in this case like maybe White teachers aren't expecting as much from black students for for lots of different reasons maybe there are biases that are present there but they're not expecting as much from them so maybe those students aren't going to actually fulfill their their life's potential right because people aren't believing in what's possible for those students um so again in this scenario it was like just having two teachers so if you're a black student who's going through school and you happen to have two teachers who look like you you're 32% more likely to go to college according
022to these studies um not only that but they also found like again in these studies that that students all students no matter like regardless of their race had favorable perceptions of teachers of Color part of that can be because of their lived experience you know maybe there's a way that they were relating to students in in different ways but um essentially what this is just saying it's like having that having that presence right the presence of somebody who looks like you is enough to propel you into a trajectory that might not have been possible before um again the links the links to these studies are in the slides if you want to check them out there are a few different sources for those and I think there's some ongoing work around this too and and
023I think that that also goes to if you have um individuals that are disabled you know how many how many teachers an hour as you roll into the classroom in a wheelchair or with touches or with a limp or I mean those are visible but with other sort of disabilities I I don't see I don't think there are any there are yeah okay that's not a lot though well there there was a teacher I was talking to today who said how how much of an impact it makes when she talks about right having ADHD right to students and students can then say like oh wow like you are this person who I look up to who's sharing this experience with me that I connect with I can relate to you know it definitely makes a
024difference absolutely okay I'm going to keep on scrolling through also there's lots of research about the the benefits of diversity on teams a number of you pointed this out in your survey diverse teams when they're managed for diversity actually make they make smarter faster decisions they can be more Innovative because you have so many different perspectives present right and if everybody is able to contribute you actually make smarter faster decisions in more diverse groups so again it's like the benefits of diversity uh it shows us what's possible and all of this is possible Right with diversity so more to dig into there I also added a slide here just to share where diverse where this word shows up in our policies where it shows up in the equity policy shows up in the anti-racism policy
025again just noting that we um probably want to have a shared definition for diversity in here okay all right I'm GNA keep I'm going to keep just rolling because i' I've got like four minutes keeping track um but please jump in at any point inclusion again as many different definitions as there are uh folks who contributed to the survey um some some range in thinking around uh well maybe I'll let you all I'll let you all check out the slide in the interest of time I'm going to offer you a way of thinking about inclusion and then we can see if this connects with some of the ways that yall were thinking about it so I'd like to offer this definition of inclusion being an environment that engages multiple perspectives differing ideas individuals from different
026backgrounds to help Define organizational policy practice help shape organizational culture I asked one question in um like what makes inclusion possible and so what do you all think somebody might need in order to help Define organizational policy practice shape culture what does somebody need to have in order to be able to contribute to that oh they need to have voice yes opportunity to express yes they need to have voice for sure anything else y'all think they might [Music] need all right I'm gonna run with voice and I'm gonna offer there something about uh well I'm gonna share this with you there's an image this is an image of all dogs sitting around a table and it says meanwhile at today's meeting on feline healthc care what do you notice about this is this pulled from
027the national government in the US uh this was not but it may have been connected to some other image I don't know if folks saw that years ago but what do you notice about this image no cats there are no cats there are no cats get these dogs are making decisions about feline Health Care okay so a question for you what would make this inclusive what would need to change about this image in order for this to really represent inclusion like one would one cat would one cat make it inclusive no no why not it would be a star I think yeah it could be a star and you also I mean can one cat represent all cats no which sometimes right that's that's what happens sometimes right people are asked to represent a whole
028group of people as one person so one cat probably wouldn't make this inclusive what would a lion yeah maybe different kinds of cats right maybe different kinds of cat cats but like more cats at the table and the cats would have to have some sort of voice and not just voice but they have to have some kind of power right the cats because you could have three cats at this table and the dog say okay you're at our table now we've made all the rules you're just here to like go along with what we're doing right and the cats don't have any power if they don't have any power it's going to be hard for them to influence anything around the culture identity all of that I know we are pretty much at time but
029this is just another way of thinking about inclusion is really not just about having a seat at the table but it's about feeling like you have your voice has some sort of power and influence over the decisions that are being made this is a way that I'll bring back I mean this isn't the only time that we're going to be talking about diversity and inclusion this will come back and back but I think that for me I know the more I started to think about inclusion not just being about everyone but it's looking about who has the most experience to speak to some something that they're likely dealing with as part of their lived experience right and then how do they have some sort of power and influence because they likely know what's best for
030them um so anyway I think I'm gonna pause there there wasn't much else to share but just a way again of thinking about inclusion is not about assimilation it's about having some sort of power in voice okay REM it reminds me of um John Brown when he was in in the north um planning to free the slaves uh there wasn't a single black person at the table so he was telling them what they needed instead of including them yeah instead of asking them right so we see this happen a lot it's just something for us to continue to think about inclusion like the transgender policy right having people who who have that lived experience to weigh in it can help inform how we think about policies how are the people who are most impacted who
031have the most knowledge about something or lived experience how are they not just contributing but how are they somehow helping to either lead or be you know again have that voice in uh influence and power somehow also we'll be touching on English Learners policy that's another important one um that if you if you don't know the language no one is I I mean we can have all these policy makers at the table determining whether we should have a a teacher you know um an English language teacher and we can say well we don't have it in the budget but for those students who are who do not know the language and who struggle that's a problem um so yeah I I think we it's so important to have those voices or someone that at least
032can um you know bring them up at the table totally well uh thank you all for rolling through that uh sorry Bill I think we went over two minutes but I will uh thank y'all I'll pass it back thanks Tracy you're doing amazing job she really is very fortunate yeah to have her okay I'm GNA share my screen now let get to the [Music] top there it is okay all right um thank you Tracy I think the work that she's doing is so important but it feels like we're making some Headway which which is good yes is very good okay um I brought you two procedures tonight called disclosure I grabbed the February and the board work plan these are februaries so I'll bring January's back next month Des grabed the wrong ones um but
033these are the ones that have been in the portal so the title one parent and family engagement which is really spelled out in the actual their checklist in the policy it's 34-page document so the procedure is just that um the federal grants manager is going to follow that um those checklists which Angie is on top of she's our federal grants manager and the other procedure is travel reimbursement which is which is spelled out um so I don't know if there are questions on those but pretty cut and dry okay all right I am bringing you results from the December January I did extend it because we didn't get a huge response this time on the question of the month which was about engagement so we we did get I'm clicking the wrong screen my apologies
034got it in two places um so the question of the month from December and January was about engagement and how families like to be engaged so we we only had 28 responses which is the lest that we've had so far in our questions of the month they were from all all different all the different schools um grade level was mostly pre5 we answered um and we do find that we get a lot of attendance in our K5 um Family nights or um Community dinners Etc so that made sense um most of the people that filled out the survey have attended family community events from the year um and then I summarize the comments which I think are are pretty important there were there were lots of positive comments about the community dinners people really appreciated
035having um dinner paired with another event because we know how hectic it is for families to feed their kids and get out of the house tonight so people really appreciated that there were some other suggestions on what we might want to do um so I'll just read them to you student music such as garage bands student Le singing groups instrumental recitals was a request for that a reading or math event led by students something that focuses on Dei issues a gift exchange for 60y olds somebody from the community put that in there which I thought was pretty neat uh a full School activity night so specific yeah but maybe it's a need have to wait for a year to do that yeah are you gonna be 60 yeah um resources events parent specific event to
036network so getting parents together which we did try last year we should try that again um there was request for a curriculum review explanation this parent said that they would like to see more during the school more events during the school day not just full school events but classroom events for families to interact with um so request for parents or family members being in the classroom setting um there were a couple more that I pulled tonight because I did have a few more responses from Friday's newsletter um there was a request for more family events geared towards older students music events healthy cooking classes for kids lgbtq awareness activism Dei focused events so that came up a couple times math game nights again um I thought this was a neat one mystery reader day inviting
037parents grandparents or other special people into the classroom to be mystery readers of a teacher approved book uh to do that at Harford when I taught it that was pretty fun um and the last is my son just isn't interested in clubs or sport but um this parent would love to find something that encourages those kids to participate in something so D and yeah I wonder if maybe um the students that are in the restorative um um sessions can at some point maybe present to the community it's a great idea yeah that you're working with Tracy they middle schoolers that she she said they are sixth seventh and eighth graders yeah I think that would be may maybe they don't have to present to the community maybe they can present to the elementary because it
038sounds like they're middle schoolers so they can present to the elementary and maybe they can present to the high schoolers um I don't know but I I think that it's a way of showcasing what our students are doing in absolutely I think for more classroom parent engagement if start doing things more using Google meet yeah inviting parents not of course not recording or anything like that but send out those particular invitations to yeah parents to be able to middle of the work day kind of click in and enjoy a 30 40 minute and I think activity I think they maybe I'm not sure but I know their monthly um assemblies at the K5 level parents are invited but I think they let parents in right so they can see them yeah which is kind of
039cool so you don't have to be present you can be yeah virtual I I now um years ago they would allow um community members to come in and read to the El do they still allow that or postco know I I is it happening again hasn't it PR it is happening at Alber bridge I just wonder if um that probably can be expanded and um and for you know and some folks can do a Google a zoom for kids in a classroom and someone from the community who would be interested in Reading you know someone elderly or some and may not be able to get out the house do but they can do a virtual presentation to the kids yeah that's a great idea getting the community so there's some great ideas I'm going to
040take them to the administrative teams and share them out as well so some them are more not really the board can't create them but but the administrators can okay before I present the February question of the month I want to talk about the calendar because my question relates to the calendar the board approves it um I'm bringing it back tonight and um later hopefully we can act uh on approving it so last month um we talked about it and Bill had mentioned that there's feedback from the community on the difficulty of early release days so I I did some digging um I I I talked to Angie because um there are currently eight early release days in the calendar for next year proposed for next year four of those are curriculum related so four of
041those um are really planned and facilitated by curriculum instruction and assessment Department two of the four what we've been using them for um a little bit last year and this year we're doing deep data Dives with our star data so they're coordinated with when those assessment results come in and it gives teams of teachers time to dig into those results make a some plans for addressing the results and setting some goals around them so that's October and I believe um February they coincide with the star assessment it what do you call it give it window when they yes thank you so those are used that way the other two um are used for curriculum work and it's really there's some contract language which we have to follow we can't present new learning on those early
042release days but we can continue with things that we've been working on so curriculum implementation curriculum mapping um I know and's been doing some proficiency work with some grade levels so there's no specific contract language about that it's in uh the interpretation of the N yes um but there is a particular l which which there is a slight amount in put yeah but we've had L lengthy discussions with our Union leadership around right what that means um I just didn't want the perception to be out there that the contract says no we can't have right that during that time how how many early release did we have this year or do we have this year I think the same amount um there there's a there's a thread was um four two for four four for
043curriculum work two data two for curriculum you know same well the four for curriculum so there are an additional four in the contract two of those come before the Friday parent teacher conference day and that allows teachers to um provide families with opportunities for conferences in the evening so they get out early on Thursday they do conferences into the evening finish them up Friday some teachers I mean it's it's a mix some teachers do conferences a few each night all week long because it's it's it's it's a wonderful um opportunity to talk to parents and students about their progress but it is it is exhausting I'm not going to lie I did it for 23 years um especially when you have a a large roster of students so the union we met with the Union
044leadership around this they would like to keep those as is for now um and then the other two early release days one comes before the December break and one comes on the last day of school um the you know the staff we talked to for a while about those days because it it it there is an impact on families right so they really felt strongly that those those times are there aren't many of those times during the year for step to come together to collaborate for team time and for wellness and some of it's gathering together um and being together and enjoying each other's company and kind of um there were comments about um from from the staff that these those two days in particular the day before the December break and the day um
045the last day of school they're pretty emotionally charged days for students and so often it's it's can be beneficial for students to only have to be in school half day on those days um at the same time there's no research that right that's just a step perception um I did do a little digging I just in this region about how um other schools do it all the schools that responded in the Southeast um region I'm in a superintendent group they all have the last day of school as an early release day I would say half of the people that responded had the day before the holiday break as as an early release day as well and that's just information for you um while you think about what we do with our calendar um I know
046that it's well what I would like to propose as the question of the month for February really looks at this I want to click on it and show it to you because I want your Insight on it um for the future so let me share this tab instead okay so I just do a little intro early release time is used for several different purposes throughout the school year for majority of the time it's used for professional development for staff well that's not actually a majority but half the time I should change that um at conference times early release time allows staff to meet with parents during afternoon hour afternoon and evening hours we would like to gather some information on the impact of early release times on our families so we Andie and I actually
047help Angie helped me with this crafting and early release days have no impact are a challenge so we do want to know how challenging these days are for our families if you answered our challenge for our family please share what your challenge is um it then it takes you um I think that it'll go if it has no impact the survey is over if there if there a challenge for your family you answer some followup questions um which day of the week for an early release day has the least impact on your family do you prefer that early release days happen before a long weekend or a break so trying to gather some information how does that sound well one thing that seems to be missing is the impact on students yes how do does
048feel impact to students because really what we're looking at is the contract is 175 days yeah but we only have 171 because we have eight release days so that you lose four full days instruction as well as interrupting the schedule of of lunch and schedule of that security for students yeah um for some families and I mean for some students the school is the one secure place it's the one safe place that so early release tend to be emotionally charged as well as the day for Christmas can can I it's not really a half day it's about a third of a day so it's about two and a half hours 12 to 2:30 so early Le happens at 2 at 12 so students are in school from 7:45 to 12 so it's more like 23
049the day happens could you ask parents yeah what yep what they would like to see if the option is open for the as Andy just mention 2 and a half hours is it yes 2 and half hours what would they like to see happen for those two and a half hours I mean maybe that's too specific um that kids are in that kids are being let let out for I mean I just wonder if maybe the parents can also chime in on okay um maybe we can find a compromise here something that would expose the children keep them engaged but not necessarily in the classroom I don't know I I I don't know if the teachers I I don't know if you would even require all of the teachers to be part of whatever it
050is that that can look like I I I really don't know well whenever there's some sort of Staff training or staff C uh for that time it usually is much more productive in smaller groups um I have never found old school staff development to be particular productive um one teachers can hide um attention wise and two it often not always ends up being your your lowest level of instruction you have a group of people on listening to someone talk I would I would would agree with you and we've made every effort to differentiate for those early release days so that our staff get the most out of them the this year the the new addition to our schedule was support staff training offered on those early release days we're probably doing that better than we'
051have ever done it before we're not perfect by far um we've offered speakers but it's still there's still a large group of people in the room and to differentiate that that's a like a longterm goal to get that but feels absolutely right in that that back one size fits all professional development doesn't you don't have to do a one siiz footall I'm not talking about having no I think what Angie's saying is it's a longterm gold [Music] yes I can't see who has a hand up yeah I guess my question that I'm having I guess is like what's what's the alternative because my understanding is that we we have we're obligated to have those days as off like are you saying that we would instead do a early release day every Wednesday at for an
052hour early so throughout the year or something like like I'm not I'm I guess I'm not understanding what the debate is if these are required times yeah there is no obligation to have release days no there's no contractual obligation to it at all it is something that has kind of crapped up in our calendars because one of the need to meet with staff and and two it's a it's a it's a way that Administration are found get around your daily requirement of 175 days finding more time without it being in contract and it really is you talking to parents in in one of my goals is to wean this suu off of early release dayses and come up with better ways to accomplish what needs to be done so one idea bill and I have
053chatted um you know we would love to negotiate more professional development days in our contract we have five days total to work with staff right Angie five um and it's all spelled out in the contract so in if if we want to the time is still necessary so when you do an early release day it counts as a full student day so I think that's why sometimes they're put in place but instead of two half days a full day of professional development would be I think better would better serve us um so but that's that has to be negotiated negotiated and budgeted for and budgeted for him yeah at the same time uh you know one of the things we talked about and one of the ideas I had to sort of keep this on
054the front burners is to you know move into giving two full days for parent conferences um in November sort of recognizing that that is the he heaviest lifting of course it we require to have another school day but giving teachers that time um another option down the line we to be able to fit in more um release time for new teachers because there's there's more things that they need especially for brand new teachers and U classroom management and just programs in general um possibility exist is you know and that day half day in November is make at a full day and if within the negotiations we can get more time in the contract for new teacher training that that's one place it could go um and so not and I'm not suggesting in any way
055that we force teachers to schedule conferences it's just a time for them to take a breather and um take an emotional rest especially for those who like to who are willing to meet parents in the afternoons and early mornings when parents are available have that time to uh work on other things for those two days instead of a day and a half and the other idea I had was to uh make the day before Christmas a full day just because I always found it annoying to day in which I really enjoy spending with students and celebrating and having other things to have that a full day 24th it seems like any changes we would want to make does not actually seem like we could put them in effect for next school year because if we're
056talking about budget and we're talking about budgeting for more PD and needing to am like change contracts it doesn't that seems like there's no point of really like we would we we can't do that next year no the two two days that I'm speaking of wouldn't involve any contract changes and it wouldn't it wouldn't involve any extra budgeting which two days you're just saying the day before Christmas and uh the half day for November conferences and making it a full day full day off yes it would add another student day to the calendar at the end of the year Christmas you talking about before the break Nancy the um the 20th the 20th I hear Christine when she was saying it's really important to the teachers and the morale so that would be my concern
057I hear it like the students but if this is really important to the teachers I it's important to some teachers but it's not important to all and that just like it's important to some families it's not important to all so I mean you're never going to get all right comments of wther skill teacher talking about you know how disrupted it is for for families and students to have a a day cut short um my purpose is not to my my focus is not to get rid of early release days for next year my purpose is to do at least something to keep it on the minds of administration teachers in the board board is in that the longterm goal I feel should be longterm goals are goals longterm go to eliminate all over Poli States
058and so that they're just not a thing that we expect and our teachers and students have a consistent schedule a day of school is the day of school and we come up with ways and it make cost us it may cost us um you know more uh more in um substitute pay it may cost us more in uh voluntary PD and then be able to to uh pay per DM for those teachers to come in but setting up the calendar is setting up the calendar so I'd like some movement on this just to keep it in the Forefront that this is something that I feel and I've heard a lot of parents say that um it should not be a a the first and only solution to needed time I I think that's why you
059know Megan mentioned okay we've gotten word we've heard from the teachers um we've heard from some parents I think put it out this way we get a sense from other parents on well what what other options are there what's on your mind because then we can maybe look at all of those suggestions and come up with maybe this can work because maybe there is a way of putting closure using that last day as closure half a day for the teachers and half a day for something else that could be created that could engage the community that could involve other parents as and as Bill said we may have to pay a little bit maybe not maybe you have enough um folks that will step up you know it doesn't have to be teachers that will
060say who participate in contributing our volunteering our time to put closure to help students put closure on school and and and talking to Christine one thing I wanted to do is of course to bring these ideas to the board and get your input and the fact that I I tend to be a little bit of a hard ass when when dealing with things be like this is we can do this there's no contractual stopping but should we push it a little bit this year and put remove one or two early release days or should we keep it in the um not push it this late in the game with the understanding that this is something we're going to work towards in future years um to eliminate early release dates could that be a question on
061what is which would work better a full day or a half day off I don't I'm not sure we have time I think we need to approve I know but just to get just to get GA for yeah the sense of the community is it half day more difficult or is a full day more difficult and I haven't I could create a survey for the staff as well feels right we haven't heard from all of them and maybe some have different opinions so we did we meet monthly with the huh some staff our parents yes some staff our parents that's true yeah so so I can do that and bring back information but but you're right it's not it's not going to be helpful in this calendar adoption um but it will be I think
062moving forward the board gets to decide that at the um motion time at the end of the meeting so let me just capture that as a half day or a full day easier right on families and some teachers might find that they a shorter period of time for professional is is better for them than a full day sometimes a full day is really a long time that's true so um I think you need a staff to Y the way as well also like I hear you when you say that it could increase the amount of substitutes you know needed and that sort of thing and how does that affect a student having um is that the same as having a half a day having like are they getting the same instruction like are we I
063understand what you're saying like let's build the structure and figure it out but I just wonder what impa that can have on a student I mean that's just one necessary option one idea kicked around would be the fact that you could um plan districtwide as an SLE grade level to to to release them and then create a really enjoyable activity for the students they they explore the woods so is something in which that could be memorable and different for them instead of going home um the other interesting thing is the fact that at at Hartford uh Ka they have a early these days high school did too for obvious reasons because I'm not real comfortable with setting high school students loose know what I would do when I was in high school student I free
064time we have tried the model of releasing staff uh in grade level bands for like half a day right so all the first grade teachers come together and they do curriculum work but we have been so strepped for substitutes that we just we haven't been able to do that for a while but it is an effective way right so um I was thinking as you would Shar that I was thinking of the intenses that go on in the school I mean that's such a beautiful project oh the March intenses March Ines that kids are able to explore places and spaces that they don't normally exp and you end up getting a lot of volunteers you know to head those but yeah I I also think a positive experience is so much more out than just
065like mine yeah okay um let me move on um bill I think you requested this Behavior reporting information you recall pretty sure you did um so we just brought we did look into it per state requirements school reports schools report all incidents that result in suspension expulsion as well as all hhb complaints and incidents involving violent crimes and weapons possessions use and we do send out the reporting guidance from the state to the schools annually um that comes out from Ryan I believe and does that answer the question kind of um I think what you really schools really need is more clarity on what to report because uh the reporting a state incident St reported incident um that the state insists if there is violence in any way supposed to be included and I know
066the elementary schools tend to shy away from reporting those uh the other issue is uh to make sure that uh for uh federal civil rights data that that uh information is is Incorporated in the federal civil rights reporting software that use if you use software that's one of my struggles is getting them to put that in the right place so I don't have to manually count uh the uh the uh seclusion and restrain data and break down manually race ethnicity yeah okay um Britney's on Britney do you know the answer to that she was on maybe she's uh no yeah I'm here um well so what I know is what Christine shared which is came directly from the state's website um I also know that next year some of this will be slightly mot because
067of the way that they're going to ask us to report um through power school which I think will provide a lot more uh accurate information to this State and it'll just be more consistent um so Ryan has been working on that I mean it it's a slow process as the state you know transfers over into reporting incidents uh for these kinds of things um so I guess I guess I'm I I would need to understand a little bit more about um because I have I other than reporting myself as the assistant principal I really don't have a ton to to do with the state reporting for Behavior right now um so I guess I'd just be interested to learn a little bit more about what sort of trainings are offered by the state to make
068sure that all the schools are interpreting the information that the state's providing in the same way because it seems like there's very little on their on their website and the guidance that they provide in terms of how to report and what to report does that sound right bill I mean or have additional information yeah no the the they're pretty clear on if you ask them the the the write up is pretty worky in some areas what does this mean what does that mean they just need more and they've been talking about providing more for the last decade that sounds right yeah the guidance on what restraint in in seclusions pretty clear on on what you had to for 4500 which yes that paper copy they're not using anymore right but still is that data available
069because I can't I can't get any of that data of who filled out 4500 because or or who input to the state but that's not available anybody and for those who have to once it's inputed once it's inputed for for for those of us who have to break that data down for the federal civil rights reporting it makes it frustrated because that's that's a whole section yeah I agree and I know I know Katie is very on top of the rule 4500 paperwork and making sure that the staff know when to fill that out how to fill that out um and she she collects all of that that information um so I I do know in terms of 4500 she's very very on top of that and maybe she can she can talk a little
070bit more about about that piece she is on Katie are you here I am um you want anything to add I think this year the state has required principles to record so each building has to report on 4500 I don't know what how that date is going to be disseminated um but that was this was the first year we just did it midy year um and building wide we now use a Google form to get ours um if they are not ones that have to be reported to the state so we'll be able to aggregate some of that data in different ways because now we have it in a spreadsheet form and it's it's easier to access um but again I I'm curious to see what the state will be doing and that's being looked
071at pretty closely there's a um a committee working on that so giving feed feedback and just on 4500 in general of our use of it so but there is a lot of data there um we have such small numbers of 4500s it's hard to pull much from last year we had less than 10 so it's a um some of those being you know maybe a same student or whatnot so we don't pull a lot of information from it but it is information that could be aggregated compared to um a larger group of students St wide and I think that's why they're looking at it I don't know if that answers your question bill but it's it's underused data but it also could be data that isn't particularly useful because of the sample size I mean
072my my frustration and what my hope that is that um you know the federal civil rights reporting is supposed to be every other year but it's going to be three years in a row just to make up for the year that was missed for Co when I heard that that I was like I just did this CU you have to do it right yeah is there a policy that um the superintendent should be informing the board um of how many students I don't know that's the form that you um we I have to report how many um staff are trained in each building not that it's how many um how many rule 4500s yeah I don't know if that's in see looking at my work plan I know I have to report it's on Katie
073it's our list um believe it is in our policy Christine or we put it in our procedures it's a minimum of procedures if not policy because actually I brought that up at a state meeting being we're one of the few people that do report to the board to the board yeah is that is that the number of restraints and how and who is um trained in each building we said we would report a number of trained and the number of restraints I we have done Su wide because by building it's too identifiable um but we did last and we'll continue to do so it's in Katie's report whenever that is scheduled towards the end of the year ka yeah thank you K okay um let me just see just a couple of other quick updates
074before Larry gives his financial quarterly report um I don't you may all know this already we have we have adopted all our local budgets they are all increased theyve all increased significantly um and across the board that was when the CLA was applied so all the clas have dropped in all our communities and that is impacting the tax rate um so we're working I mean there's there's things coming out regularly on this new formula so I'll keep you posted um the other thing we are in the middle of negoti teacher negotiations I haven't been in negotiations here before but I've been in negotiations a lot in my previous roles and I have to say we're taking our time it's going really well and it's been really collaborative and I have to thank bill has done
075a really great job and Heather and um Vincent are the are the board members who are part of that committee and um we will bring you information as we can but so far so good yeah we may we we'll get to some more difficult parts coming down the line but it is it is night and day and the other two negotiations I participated in good we have food we have cookies thanks a lot I do want to say that I um heard from um someone from weatherfield regarding their budget they were I think they had a meeting last week they did and um they they felt they weren't happy but they felt good with what they were hearing they were getting explanation I mean people were putting put in an effort to help them understand
076what what's going on so I you know I just want to give feedback on that it was positive I was like oh okay that's good to know super complicated yeah so and and in in the meeting that Christine and I had with the wed field um Town manager Town manager it really sort of opened a lot of different things that we as a board should work on with the town managers because they point is when people have questions and concerns about their taxes the town manager is the one they go to and so keeping the town managers informed on what's going on how things work is really important because they they were honestly concerned and they really didn't have a firm understanding on how education funding Works in was good it was a good it
077was a good meeting so I was able to communicate some things and they were eager to to learn and I think was great it's just we need more Outreach we need more communication with the people that taxpayers are going to call thanks um I I I did it again just so I wouldn't forget and I don't think I've forgotten what I was gonna ask the um local you were saying Christine that you were hearing a lot about what the CLA has the response has been to CLA are you getting any kind of sense that they may make any changes before town meeting time uh I I I don't know um was it today we had the letter Friday we got a letter um which basically said that any that's the way I interpreted it any
078community that is benefiting from the tax cap the 5% tax cap precla um their budget will be under review it was very fuzzy was more like you know this may not have been a good idea even though it wasn't our idea yeah it was was not our idea yeah the intent of act 127 is is good and valid but but right I think the current concern is of course is that if every school raises their budget 99.99% then all their it's all Capp than 5% where's that money come from um and so the letter was rather threatening it's kind of like don't pad your budgets or where are we looking over your children oh yeah because because remember Ed what Ed said and Harland didn't uh Harland was over the 10% so had to reduce
079some things the other two communities um weren't commun uh districts weren't but your tax rate the way I understand it um if it's you know if your per student increase is 2% your you you can add additional funding up to 99.9% your your tax rates going to stay the same right so the message was don't do that don't add things to your body just because you can do that right that's not that's not what the intent of the um legislation so I don't have an answer calling I don't know it's still there's a there's a I think there's a they're taking testimony on Thursday in the legislature about about this um from one to three I think it's public so if you wanted to zoom in you probably could see what that's it I was
080just interested in yeah roller coaster ride isn't over yet I don't think it's over yet either and and things could change after our budgets pass right in March who knows okay um with that note Larry you want to go over the quar lease real quick yeah I sent them out um they've been on the pro for a while there's it's uh the second quarter again still still early on the revenue side so the main thing to pay attention to is expenditures and um with the encumbrances we built in we feel here things are right online it's things will be much more focused as we get to the third quarter as things start that's when you start seeing the difference between the revenue and the expenditures um so nothing uh crazy surprising um you feel good
081about where things are all right thanks sir all right that's the end of the report any questions I'm happy to take them just un share my screen [Music] back to you though okay um uh before we get into policy I I'd like to um add a brief inal discussion on the the calendar um and I I I like to hear from all members if if they feel that this year here is the time to we have the you know the option to remove some early release days um or would you prefer to um keep this on the front burner for for next year um and trying to be able to create Solutions uh for the longer term and so anybody online I would like to hear from from all of you even if it's just
082a couple words what's the question again um I have put forth that uh two days to remove as options to remove the early release dates and do something else um the day uh making the early release uh in November just a full day for conferences instead of an early relief and the day before Christmas make that full day and so my question to all of you is that something you're interested in doing or would you prefer to wait for next year to have more planning and give Administration more time to come up with Solutions so I this is kind of would you like us to do Christine I I would appreciate the time to survey the staff to survey the community and bring back the information um knowing full knowing the goal I think um
083time to do it properly is would be appreciated an Marie um as a parent who's been annoyed by the half day um I still kind of agree that more they need more time to sort of figure it out what what they're going to do with the time I don't want to just sort of for it on them um I think giving them a a mandate to to get it done for next next year uh you know approval would be better than trying to force it through this year D yeah I I also agree I mean I think it's the whole no decision about me without me you know kind of thing and so it doesn't sound like we have any teacher voice in this right now um and it sounds like we have loud parent
084voices and Loud teacher voices are really what we're hearing I I'm not hearing I'm not feeling like we have a majority of voices heard um right now and I would say like in my district right now we have early release stay once a week and so our students are released an hour early every Thursday and then we have two hours of PD every Thursday along with full days of PD and days off for parent teacher conferences I'll tell you as an educator I don't it's I don't love it it's not maybe it could be facilitated differently but it's not my favorite thank you Mark yeah um let Christine take the time she needs um it I I don't really have any strong feelings one way or the other but uh sounds like the taking the
085time to do it next year is is appropriate Jamie I don't see you up there but I I saw you room I I agree that I think taking the time is probably the best option thank you anyone else online I'm missing I don't think so Spence Colleen was first okay Megan I I would like to take the time okay um would like to Nancy I'd like to hear what the parents say on this because some parents are teachers do yeah on the survey okay so I would like to take a motion to approve the calendar as it is drafted now second okay any discussion on that my only question is that on this February 7th there's a note double check we double Che I was just curious if there was a change to that I
086just wanted to make sure it was not too close to the star window so we can do the data dive but yes and you did confir can't be earlier than that but we do want to do it the next week okay colen how do you vote on the calendar on the calendar she just put her thumb up okay Beth hi Mark I Jamie I hry I Megan hi Rebecca hi Nancy hi and I am an i as well thank you very much thank you for the time and I'll bring back some information yeah appreciate that first hearing of it well my opinion you don't push somewhere yeah no one pay attention no you're right right I appreciate it it's good too um B20 personal recruitment selection appointment and background checks I feel I head is
087up this is in pretty good shape uh the question is um it yeah um some of the optional pieces uh the highlighted First Option theity supervisor in school district will ensure that employees receive training and non-discrimination bias and anti-racism my personal feeling is that we have that covered in so many other areas I'm not sure it's really needed here that's my personal opinion I have no objections to having that in there okay it it would require time she's talking about professional development we don't current like it is embedded but it's we don't give specific training right um Tracy did a little bit of bias training with the interview committee for on the principal search so I would I would love Tracy's opinion on this one actually she if she feels it's really important for all
088staff to have some of that um non-discrimination bias and anti-racism training what are your what are your think what is your thinking Tracy I mean yes I think ideally yes everybody has some training at some point yeah at the same time though I think it should probably be in a separate policy okay and to be able to take the time and organize it and plan it and word it much better than it's worded here be more specific yep that would be my opinion the other piece is to to prospective employees or the school district will pay for background checks what was the past practice we do so actually if you don't mind um Larry Tracy Tina and I met Friday we went through this policy yeah um there are a couple little things that we
089would recommend okay when the time is right you let me know and I'll share those yeah time is right right now yeah so under recruitment so we we would love for that training to happen but again being Mindful and planning when that's going to happen I think it may be more appropriate in the anti-racism policy or the policy so um so if you go to the recruitment section we um under number one the board seeks to strengthen recruitment of we want that to say all staff instead of just Educators because we're not just recruiting Educators we're recruiting uh our maintenance staff our kitchen workers are yeah so if that's okay all staff um when you get to number four under recruitment we propos that after the first um part I'll read it after the initial
090written or electronic application process is complete applicants selected for an interview will be required to provide a statement identifying any criminal charges we would say put a period there cross out the next um line and a half through the word charge so brought against the applicant including the date of each charge the court where the charge was filed and the disposition of the charge we would say take that out um because in the application process in school spring they have to tell you um but they don't have to give you all those details right in that so that would be an additional thing we would have to figure out um the statement shall also include a warning to the applicant in um we were going to look at we don't know if it's in Bull
091print in school spring which is where most of our applicant applications come in do you know Bill it's there but I don't know if it's in bold print so we're going to check it's there yeah so we can find that out and take the word bold out if it's not um those were the two recommended changes for recruitment um when we get down to selection where that um where it says choose so the school district does pay the cost of such checks will be worn by the school district um yep it's $35 for The Prince and then Tina said 13 or 16 she couldn't remember for the report so we do pay for that is I was wondering because I don't remember any mention of that in the contract yeah you're right yeah yeah okay
092it is in Tammy's contract so it is okay interesting maybe we have to think about that more well we're paying for it now yeah we're paying for now so okay um practice I to stick practice on the next um number two under selection when you get to um request this is like I think the second sentence request will be made for fingerprint supported criminal records from the FBI as well as criminal records from the state of Vermont and any state with Vermont reciprocity so if we don't have reciprocity we don't get that information so we would recommend Crossing out in which the superintendent knows the applicant has resided or been employed okay um number three Tina does that number under number five uh no I just underlined no changes for number five um uh under
093appointment we wanted to change on number five instead of employees uh teaching staff because it's the teachers who are on the probationary period not all employees if that makes sense yeah under appointment number five instead of the word employees teaching staff right because that that law only that only applies y certified staff correct the other thing under number one um sorry I skipped it because I couldn't remember what we said but the appointment of licensed employees will be made by the board subject to the nomination of candidates by the superintendent of schools mean a lot of times that's the principal that brings you those High new hires yes so we could change that superintendent or principal or yeah yeah okay let's do superintendent okay that makes sense and then I think that was it Tracy
094lar is that there's there's one past practice and this was David's past practice in which in the summer yes um he would give he would be giving the authority to hire right yeah do we want that in this policy just s to lay out the steps that yeah then you wouldn't have to vote on it every summer right not so much to vote on it but that's it's not so much removing the vote but um either a different process for example be used to be that David would uh contact the board chairs okay or and I'm not in any way suggesting that but if we want to keep it that we would give you in a vote we should probably lay that out in the policy okay that where would you put it under a
095different section or under in the appointment appointment okay okay I'll work on some language and share it with you yeah it works okay okay this is just a second read anyway right yeah so I would just advocate for keeping the Dei line in and I think I mean what's the harm I guess in putting it in and making sure that it is in our other policy as well um but it just doesn't seem like why why not hold our feet to the fire as many times as possible for these types of things I I I I would agree with that I was going to I just went back to that and I um and I thought about a couple of things I when I was um umy probably they do that but there were certain
096um policies that staff was was required I mean and and so this I don't know if this one was one of them but I don't know if they if you either received the training or you had to make sure that you went over the training and you needed to sign a form stating that you did receive the training and you went by by a certain date this way the you know the onus was on the the St staff member or or employee to make sure that they're were familiar with that and so I don't know I think that though that we do that with we some mandatory um trainings you know child abuse bloodborne pathogens those types of things that staff are responsible for you do that in video we do it in video yeah
097and they sign off on it so we could add potentially know Tracy that'll that'll go on our list I'll put it on our list I don't because I remember I doing that with a couple of our policies and you know you would pick a date and you would go with other staff members and but yeah you would pick a date your I would think at a minimum to create some sort of video yeah just outlining what our policies are for staff there are a couple of them that we need to do that for yeah yes okay thank you is that everything that's that's that's what we went through yeah okay uh C4 English Learners second reading I I have no yeah I don't have any yeah this is basically lays out the wall yeah it's
098all required it's basically one big definition what an English learner is um yeah I think it's pretty explicit yeah just I don't know are you guys experience the same English learning boom as as Hartford or not we've had a few not to the extent but will open a to train to um to just incredible um considering that what was it 3 years ago I didn't have a English language learner and now I have one two three four five six seven eight we just have two new ones two new ones yeah so they from six to eight that's a reasonable percentage but I I remember the we got last week I remember the conversation we were andly specific language Port Port not for us not for us but we do have a ell teacher which is
099wonderful yeah she very fortunate to have our elll teacher do I just have a question I just uh so like in this it says like U after school or extracurricular activities school program into like does that teacher go with this like is do we have a mechanism for that piece of it like extrac it has not come up okay at this time I think that the basic rule is that something needs to be in place so that student is not excluded from that after school program because of the language it doesn't necessarily mean that we would have to you know have a translated with them so forth but it could be as simple as the staff training or electronic translation but you have devices for new students who just arrived um that are translating translation
100devices which is really helpful that's great I mean that is that's amazing yeah is it like a little phone yeah yeah it's a smaller pocket device that works with the Translating so yeah very Co yeah fortunate to have those they're not super expensive um I probably we want to vote on C4 English Learners tonight can I don't I don't think we'll make it I probably won't make any changes to it yeah you certainly can I'll take a motion for uh what I was giving Meg a chance to I'll take a motion to uh pass C4 English Learners policy okay any further discussion we start here Megan how do you vote I Rebecca I I uh Colleen I hi Jamie hi Mark I an Marie I and I'm an i i missing anybody me in nine
101we do have nine okay thank you so that is so passed I will take a motion um because it is third read and we can retract the motion to pass uh c42 school entrance age so any discussion on this I think we made the changes that we talked about last time yes so it should be should be good to go um we have I think I believe this is actually the fourth reading and then we put it off at one point maybe so okay um yeah and I I i' like to the change is good thank Katie for that her work on this as well as there's no discussion Coline how you vote be I emry I Jamie hi Mark I Megan ICA hi and okay soes our policy the next agenda nice job I've
102got um admin report Tracy's report my report Britney will be doing a data report in February that's on the schedule we have a third reading of the personal recruitment selection appointment and background check policy and then the local Wellness team the um wsdc whole school childh Community has been looking over and revising the local wellness policy that needs to be adopted by the end of the year there's a lot of pieces to it we put we put a hold on it you had the first reading so they'll they'll be ready to bring back recommendations for second for the second reading in February only two I have on here which is right so that means you have personal recruitment yep selection and in that one I think yep that's such a big one to keep it
103just to Happ these to okay and it's February 2th or 29th for a budget meeting uh 29th for your budget meeting Thursday at um Room 210 at uh dinner will be served at 5:15 in the dining hall and then we'll go upstairs to 210 at 600 for the presentation we have um moderator Kate Williams has agreed to be the moderator um Davis is on top of getting winds are on air there I'm in charge of making sure the food and the technology is ready and I think I think it should go quite smoothly actually so a good plan Larry's Larry's been working with us as well he's he's he'll have the ballot right up with the warnings at theth draft ballots get candidates they create the ballot and then um the warning is up the
104warning is up already Y and uh we'll make sure it's it runs in the paper because we're Union district and not stting and uh get those uh forms into me January 29th by by the 29th anybody School yeah so that's the 29th so it'll be a busy week um will you be ready as part of your admin report to talk about retirements yes not necessarily we don't need to necess announce retirement unless you'd like to do you want them at the Su level or do you want them miss the local board meetings I really I I I think the the discussion of the retired but I'd like to at this level talk about the the advertising for for new positions not just retiring okay so do you want so I was putting that in the
105Mount of scotney report next I think it came up with the am of SC meeting but I can move it to the Su level meeting if you prefer okay I think we need to talk about numbers of who's retirement how that affects the instruction at this level but um I I'd like to talk about have a quick discussion on what strategies we might have to prove hiring and advertising and so forth okay was it that discuss that the um Vis Kate mentioned uh the idea collaborating with other districts because it looks like other districts are also looking at well maybe bill you brought that up it's looking at how do we do this differently in addition to the way that we're doing it Y and that's part of the the the I mean we just
106started meeting Larry myself Tina Tina has a lot to do with hiring right and Tracy um and we've kind of started a document on the the processes that we use and how we can make those better um and it's not and it's different when you're hiring support staff when you're hiring teach teachers when you're hiring administrators it looks a little bit different um so we're working on that we can bring you back what we've got we do know um we need to post early we know um there is I just sent Larry There's an opportunity for a job fair at middleberry high school coming up so we're going to take advantage of that um the other thing is um how may how to like to hear an update and how the uh for school staff
107incorporating local students High School seniors creating those opportunities for them to come back and work for us come back and work for us yeah that um yeah I'm gonna put that on February I know wi High School had a couple successes this year uh Doan Brook had a couple successes um oh that's great yeah um one worries some trend is uh autoi is water time it's a this year so it's just those those when you empty out yeah the Upper Elementary those are some openings that are going to compete we're all competing for the same competing for the same pool so okay that's one worry too but I have yeah do you participate in any jaw cares at the community college um we participated last year Larry and Tina you did your own job there
108here yeah I was at at witer school we publicized it on social media and it was in the spring yeah was it turn up not great but but we were shooting 50% because we had two people show up and one of them became an employee so right so 50% is pretty good but only two people came yeah we uh probably I don't know that it was a very nice day it was Saturday a lot of cookies for nothing get out I'm I had a we have a decent for the support staff we have a decent Educational Funding pie and so I believe it's one UVM class yeah which translates to maybe even four Community polish classes you know because of the cost so okay so recruiting of high school students how we're working on that
109and um the strategies for hiring retention and available openings across the Su okay that if you have a student who wants to take do classes a a semester uh the support staff would pretty much cover that mhm that's true so go to school while you work right yeah which works for some some kids y granted is 12 credits the year um yep but it's still 12 credits the year yep something to take advantage of and substitutes can be high school students graduates yes yep and we and we do get a lot of kids when they come back from college in the spring and on the breaks that sub for us oh that's smart oh good yep okay no some kids need to yeah yep I don't know Bill it's only 88:13 so he probably should
110keep talking do we have anything for exective session I don't believe you do um there has been I I I took a motion to adjourn all in favor please say I hi all right than everybody you got plenty so I'm stop recing