School Committee - Hybrid Meeting Wednesday, October 11, 2023

00111th 2023 um this is our school committee meeting and we start each meeting by reading our vision statement the as Public Schools is a forward-thinking district that cultivates the academic and social emotional growth of each student through a supportive collaborative Innovative and challenging environment students will develop into self-motivated resilient lifelong Learners who Embrace their role as responsible contributors to a global Community this meeting is being recorded by waca cable TV our order of business this evening is our call to order opening procedures agenda review and adoption public public comment items of interest to the public student advisory Council Presentation logo followup strategic plan and superintendent goals review resolutions from masc elect delegate boys basketball overnight trip approval approval of minutes from September 3rd 2023 warrant approvals gift and donation approvals assistant superintendent update superintendent update

002member update action item and then Mr Terry will be moving to into executive session to enter into executive session under GLC 30A section 21 A3 to conduct strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and chair the chair so declares or the vice chair so declares ashin Educators Association teacher contract ashin nurses contract Ashlin Unit B education support Personnel contract Ashlin secretary's contract and Ashlin custodians and maintenance and not to return to open session and then they will adjourn does everybody agree with this order of business and then I will take attendance just make sure everybody's here even though I see you all for the record Tina fan here Paul Kendall Aron Williams and I'm not

003visit Mark Terry okay we're all here and we're all good with the order of agenda um first I will ask if there are any members of the public this evening that would like to offer public comment I know some people are signed on to zoom do you guys see anybody who might want to share just us on just us on Zoom all right in the room here we are um we have our student advisory Council presentation welcome everybody um and we're looking forward to hearing from you if you can come up to the podium and introduce yourselves to us and we will introduce ourselves to you cuz I'm not sure if you know all of us so I will start my name is lorri tosy I'm the chair and I look forward to every time

004you guys come and fill us in on what's going on at school and I'm Mark Terry the vice chair I'm eron Williams the secretary PA but also chair I'm nice to see all of you again you as well so I'm rugid R uh I'm a senior at ashin High School uh um oh so the first thing I'd like to discuss is spirit week so we're in the middle of spirit week right now and on Saturday would be Homecoming in which the uh tickets can be bought online um and then college applications for seniors so it's an important time for us right now um many kids are applying early action so the deadlines for those are generally November 1st or 15th for most colleges so seniors are getting their Council recommendations teacher recommendations Navan accounts and

005com app accounts all wrapped up and stuff and yeah that was all excellent thank you hi my name is Norah quit um I'm a senior at ashin High School this year and I am the representative of the student advisory committee um some important sports updates so just recently um we are starting uh the first girls wrestling program at ashin high school right now we have a total of eight girls who have uh signed up so far um the start will be November 27th which is the start of all winter sports um uh teams and um more info will be um followed up this coming winter uh the unified basketball team had its first home game it went very well um the ashin football team is also doing very well they have a I think they

006have a record of uh three and two uh this weekend there will be um playing against Norwood for the homecoming game so it's very exciting and um also this fall we have the our fall play the title is of the play is called she kills monsters it'll be performing November 17th 18th and 19th and the actors and actresses are working very hard to put on a very good show so we are very excited thank you nor all right can I just ask you quickly how many other schools have um girls wrestling teams um I don't have the exact number but there are quite a few um not so much in Massachusetts but definitely in New Hampshire I know drit has a team um Quin also has a team so it's coming along it's still very

007uh um very still very small locally but um we're really hoping to see it grow and we're happy that we are one of the um towns that is pushing for it and I'm I'm really excited I will be obviously I'll be a really big part of it I'm hoping to be a probably I'll probably be a manager slash coach slash you know whatever um I will be also competing on the boys team I'm captain this year so I'll be working on that too so it'll be a lot of going back and forth between the teams but I'm very excited and I'm happy to say that my sister is going to be trying it so I'm very excited for her that's awesome nor and I do want to let you know well I'm so happy that

008you're going to be joining us at whatever meeting you can make it to school work always comes first and if you have to scoot out we understand um sometimes we can get sort of Chatty we can be Lively and it's hard to get a word in but your opinion is always going to be welcome um we want to know um what the student point of view is and what your point of view is so I'll try to do my best best to make room for you to contribute but you don't have to wait for that if there's something that you ever want to say or share that's why you're here so please feel free to contribute anytime thank you I appreciate it welcome hello hi uh I'm Emily umholtz and I'm a senior um so

009this year's gone off to a really good start uh the seniors had convocation on the first week of school uh that was a lot of fun we got to do like a special senior celebration in the auditorium um and then um do a lap outside while the rest of the school year to on and the senior barbecue was a big hit um and then uh this year a big change is that the PSATs are going to be in the middle of the week uh it's actually next Wednesday the 18th instead of a weekend like it normally is um and while like some Juniors and sophomores take the exam the freshman and sophomores will be having a study day so no new material will be taught um but a chance for students to catch up on

010things and um uh get some work done and then seniors will have the day off they don't have to come in um but it's a good opportunity for us to work on college applications get some college tours in um and yeah excellent thank you hello hi oops I'm Vanessa Thompson I'm a junior and the first week of school went off pretty good uh we had our first year we the first time we've ever done this was an empathy day with all of the freshmen so we basically taught them like things that they should be aware of when they're speaking um certain words that they shouldn't be using and just kind of making them more aware of like other people's differences and things that go on in other people's lives that you don't necessarily know and

011words that could trigger them and then we also had back to school night last week where the parents came in and got to see what their kids were working on meet some of the teachers and that was really great we had a great showing for that and I'm actually speaking for Karina Brown as well she's also a junior but she's unfortunately sick so she can't make it but this first week of school we also had for the juniors and sophomores we had Chris Haron come in and he talked of his struggles with um alcohol and abuses with uh drugs so I think that was really impactful for a lot of students uh just to be able to relate to like the struggles that he had growing up and then also coming up we have our

012National Honor Society um induction which should be coming up and the forms are actually due uh tomorrow at 2:50 so that should be pretty exciting for anyone who gets inducted and yeah it's pretty much just wrapping up now everybody's trying to get all their signatures and stuff done excellent yeah thank you good thank you all right guys and if you don't already know this you don't have to stick around after you've shared with us until the next time Nora get has to stay sorry Nora thank you nice to see you all thank you have a great year until we see you the next time glad you're a part of this hello esmer so this is the logo followup yes thank you you should be able to just disconnect or just share permission you're raising your

013on Zoom so you can just share it on sh yeah I'll just move this so just share your screen on Zoom yeah okay okay got ahead of myself okay so hello um this is the followup for the logo so um just for the audience at home um we did present to the committee um earlier in the spring about the logo and where we were um and Kristen Brown from Sund marketing came with me and then um we gave a little bit of an update over the retreat in the summer with you all um but we have a more robust um update now a brand guide and just kind of a roll out plan so um just to remember where we were and what the um the goal for the committee and for the district was

014was to kind of bring about a logo that would be able to be um reproduced by our sports teams and by our different schools and that would look similar for everyone so as many of you know um it was very hard to track down the logo um there's only one file type so um it just wasn't great to embroider or to screen print um and it was just very difficult ult for our um anyone who wanted to kind of show School SP to do so um and we found that a because of that a lot of our community members were taking it upon themselves to create their own logos or to take logos from other organizations um to kind of find their own Common Ground so we ended up going with something similar to what

015we had but that was much much um easier to reproduce so this one has less colors um it's going to be able to be scaled so if you have a banner in front of a school or you have something on a building it's going to be much easier for them to do so um to work with the vendor to do that and each building is going to have their own what we call logo lockup so it'll be this logo and then the name of the building um so they don't have to type their own it'll be what we call typ set um so everything will be looking very uniformed um and so we again we worked with a like an actual marketing firm to get this done and um the good thing is that it's

016a parent so ties to the community and you know she was also hearing from a lot of different sectors and we took that into account when we did this um and so as you can see as I mentioned um we will have different variations in different versions so if someone wants to do like a blue tea or blue background they can have a white logo it won't look all blacked out or they won't have to like go on clip art and kind of do that on their own or whatever we had before um so it'll be transparent it'll be inverted we have a black and white version um so we just kind of are just doing different versions of the logo and then the logo lockups just to make it easier for both our staff

017our faculty our students and then our community members to be able to show the spirit um and then also be in line with our brand um so you can see a little bit more of the different versions and I do want to note that um at the last meeting we were um I was asked about the block a so as you can see we will have the block a for our sports teams and that will be you know um kind of like limited use Last Resort for like fundraisers or if you know it's just for cost Effectiveness if they can't get the other um this logo the white one or the one blue here with the clock um they'll have the option to do a block a for those purposes so it's still similar to

018what we have for the rest um but it does give them some um creativity for them to work with whatever medium they have um and we also worked on the color palette so the colors in the previous logo were very subdued they were a little bit more they weren't they weren't as you know bright um and this is also takes into account the what the vendors have so for a lot of sports teams it's like a like a royal blue um and they have like a limited color palette so this one takes that into account um and then we also will provide um the different codes for that so um people won't have to guess and they'll go to the vendor and they'll be able to give them like the right color codes for the

019vendor to stick within Brands um and that'll be you know digital um again for embroidery screen printing they have all those different codes and the vendor won't know what to do with it so it won't ever be um off color so um we have been working on the Brand's guide and let me see if I can do that here yes you should be able to see this um sundon um has been going above and beyond what we initially had talked about so we had initially just talked about doing this and again they did they did the logo lockups um and they even created this brand guidelines um so they will again tell um some examples Prime examples of like how to use our logo um again we don't we want people to be able to

020be creative but also stick within brand guidelines right and so we've seen already a lot of examples of like things that are have been happening in the past um like taking copyrighted or trademark logos um opening us you know that's a liability for us as a district um but also you know we want to be unified in who we are right we're the asan clockers um so we will let them know what is the correct use when to use the alternate a um the don'ts of the logo right um we don't want people to start creating their own or to start using red right where we blue that's what were known for um so it'll be very easy for them to go to this presentation to this slideshow and you know okay I'm thinking of

021doing this let me check if this is like within use right um and then of course if they have extra questions additional questions they just want guidance on a designer or anything they're welcome to contact me um but we continue to make logos and Logo lockups and add to this guide it'll be kind of like Evergreen we'll see what's happening um around the district and keep adding to it so um we also recently have been working on moving forward with our community members and then with our sports teams um about the difference between like spirit wear and then like actual uniforms right and again giving them some allowing them to have some creativity um so so we have you know usage examples and then of course like I said we want people to be able

022to show their the school spirit um but again use the correct logo so they there's stuff that they they can create um that will still be within brand um so um again sundon has been really great about doing that for us and just kind of adding to that and then giving us logos um as they see things popping up as we roll out um so the Brands Guide is already on the webside um it's internally on the Google drive right now um so anyone with the ashon Public Schools email can find it or can access it um and then on our website this toolbar okay there we go um we will also um provide like frequently ask questions again with the Brand's guide but frequently ask questions for people who have who don't know like

023okay am I allowed to do this am I allowed to do that um which which um what do the colors mean which logo am I supposed to use on the website versus you know which file Tye am I supposed to use when I'm getting something embroidered right so that'll be added to as we get more questions from our staff our students um and just like we did did last year we'll send a letter with all this information and letting them know um to moving forward this is what we'll be using right um and we'll be giving plenty of time so again with just being fiscally responsible we don't expect anyone to go and dump and trash all their old logos or their uniforms um but we do expect when they replenish or they're getting ready

024to order new things then they'll start using the logo right um we as you may have seen on our newsletters um and some other digital assets we're already starting to implement the new logo um and that's the easiest way that we can do that um but on banners buildings anything that's already been printed and paid for that'll take some time and that'll just be expected as you order new things please use your new logo and have that updated so there's not really a deadline for that um but the digital assets for sure yes we'll get that done as soon as possible because that's very easy for us to do esmer uh when we talk about this we we talk about logo a bunch but when we talk about the brand it's more than just a

025logo correct yes so how I I think we might need to do better communication because I think I hear people talking and we talk and you just mentioned many times logo but even if like there was a there was a sweatshirt in there that was for lacrosse and it had lacrosse sticks and then just at Ashland Public Schools but that should also follow our branding guidelines for the font and using that typ set for that right and so um I think we probably need to do a little bit more uh uh holistic approach to communicating that it's not just about that logo right it's about like that I can see people thinking that they're creating a a sweatshirt like that and they're just picking and they're on on on the vendor website and they're being

026in national public schools and picking a font that they think looks good but even that I'm concerned that they're going to be doing something that's not following our branding right okay yeah um well definitely we can add a slide on the brand guide that we have and then also on that frequently Asked question as well um and like I said we continue to work on that as we see cases um I will say that um our new athletic director it has has been very great and he has been very proactive of sending people my way or asking me before a store pops up or anything and kind of saying hey um can you take a look and if I see anything that's off brand or something he's already on it so he's been great and

027I've also had some people um some staff already contact me um about it but I can definitely make sure that it's push more just just that it's more of a brand and includes all the fonts and type sets not just everybody Focus on the logo just because a hot button thing but um and just a point of feedback when you were going through and you showed the the thing that had all the dos and don'ts yes uh I'd put an icon next to the dos and don'ts the one that's with a green check mark or something that okay it wasn't completely clear that know which uh you know so then as you go there was there was ones that were one above and a below I think always the one above was the don't um

028and it and it's like to be very clear as which ones you're saying you know okay because especially when there's just all two examples and they both look there's only a little bit of difference like there was one about transparency and it's oh which which one was which one's the good one and which one's not and just to make sure that it's very very clear what the dos and don'ts and yeah there is one yeah yeah okay I I agree with that yeah I we want to make it as easy for everyone to kind of start using these so yes yeah and in terms of it sounds like Kevin's doing a great job in terms of the the sports piece and doing what he can for the stuff that that teams are ordering but I

029know that there's a lot of parents who kind of spearhead fundraisers or whatnot to make sweatshirts t-shirts and so whose job is it and what how are parents getting that information because I think parents do what out of the goodness of their heart thinking they're raising money for the programs and it's all with good intention but we also want to make sure that all of those are following the right guidelines as well too so how are they getting that information and what do what does that process look like um so so we well part of the next steps is having so we'll send an internal letter and then we'll also send an external letter um so the last time we did that we did an external letter for the community partner so they'll also have

030access to the Brands Guide and then all the logos um and and Jim I assume when it makes sense for us to get an update maybe it makes sense to do you know one of your CommunityWide emails about it you know at the stages in our packet yeah there is we just haven't sent it yet yeah but also Tina when we're dealing with coaches yeah uh they're the ones who are the layons with the parents the coaches know what we should be doing and it's really up to the coaches to ensure that they are following our guidelines and our practices so so just share make sure they're sh proactively sharing that information with the parents got correct yeah that makes sense and like I said we we have and you know Kevin has been great

031about it and I know that he's um talking to people and again a Christen brand with send in marketing it's also part of the clocker club so it's really been great that's on the the community side she's able to kind of advocate and tell parents and she's um been great about communicating with me like Hey we're debating this so even with the spirit gear and team gear like we specifically are posting there this is for boosters and for fundraisers like this is specifically for that versus what team gear is right like if it's with District funds then it's going to be a little bit more strict but when it's like again if you want to show your pride for us go for it but when it comes to using our logo then you have to

032use it the appropriate way because it is you know well I mean it it's not just using our logo if it says Ash public schools on it or Ash you know that's our brand right right right right right yeah so so it it's if it if if it's if it's referencing and representing uh our district it needs to follow the brand even if it's hey I made my own shirt well you know right yeah so I was going to ask a sort related question I think I know the answer just to from what you've said but to put it out there we're not looking at at our logos or any of The Branding as being licensed in any way that precludes people from going ahead and using it as long as it affiliates with the

033district well not yet I would say that is something that the committee can take on now from a revenue perspective it would be nice to get some proceeds when people are using our logo right and um you know the committee approved and we spent funds on having this logo refresh um so that is an Avenue that we could do where you know if you're going to use our logo and you're making money off of it you have to get a licensing agreement um but right now we don't have that so that is something we can do and with the other option as well is if we want to ensure that there is uniformity um from schools and sports te is make having a policy or something in place where if you're purchasing uniforms with school

034funds you have to run ADV byas and you can't just put the Alabama a or there's an a it seems like we should do licensing and we can put in the the parameters of when you need to you know but yeah so it's one of those things like we should have the control because someone might say hey I'm going to create these uh these sweatshirts for for my team and I'm going to charge 50 bucks and it only cost me 20 bucks well we should have something in in there that I think that the amount of time that where people are doing it to raise money for themselves I honestly have not heard that but certain people do them somebody said fundraising um you know I think that's one thing the other thing I think

035that'll be interesting to see how this develops is so you may not have seen it but Kevin just sent out a link earlier today to the store you can order all sorts of different stuff with our stuff our logos on it and wide ranges of stuff like I only complaint about it to be honest with you is there too many of choices um but if you play around with that you're going to see a lot of different things where I think people are going to be oh I want to go that's what I want um I don't remember if there's an ability to modify any of it but there's so many choices there that so that's it's different from the clocker club store it's it's the it's the school St the district store right so

036so So to that um you just maybe think of maybe it's something we should add to the fundraising policy that has something in there that if the fundraising um has any production for district things that it must follow our branding guidelines makes sense um and I think that will help you know aside from Licensing in particular but it means that you know to do to be a properly fund and get and get approval uh it sets that expectation that a follows our our branding guidelines so maybe that maybe we put a pin in that and and try to make an update I think the licensing thing feels like a biger conversation that personally I'd want to give more thought to because I think Community benefits from more of the stuff being out there but certainly

037if somebody's trying to profit off of the district's work that's a different story right right than making your own t-shirt that uses the stuff we put on our website I'm not to that point though Mark there when Walgreens was in existence and M CVS they actually have merchandise within their stores they're selling and you know yes we got small little residual checks from them but we should be walking in there um one of my best friends does licensing for colleges and he's like we they post up off shelves if if they're not the actual appro and and I can think of other things you mentioned we're talking about shirts and stuff but people can make cornhole boards and different other things and and and and and and okay so you're using this making money it's

038like so where's that line right and and that's kind of one thing I wanted to bring because like Tina you were asking like what are parents doing I actually was that Mom and like yes I'm well informed about this because of being on the committee but that's what we did I went esmer gave me access to the Google Drive I went in I got the white oncle logo and we leveraged that for the freshman football parent t-shirts just the parents not the ones that like the kids are ordering we did do a markup the entirety of the markup went back to the clocker club as a donation from The Freshman parent so there was like no profit made at all um but we made sure we were within brand guidelines that said having been a

039part of that process the adult shirts were made using an ironon provider and then I did the kid shirts because we did like clucker little Cy with the A and we had a couple different and also to make kid ones they're much smaller versus the you know it's about 8 in for an adult and it should be six or four and then if you want to go smaller the problem that I ran into doing it on my own with the Cricut and weeding out so when you do it it gets cut and you have to cut away the negative space and then iron it on the swoosh pieces on swooshy become so small and ragged that the details don't come out and even in the logo that you used with the printing and just upload

040that logo the a was not quite perfect and the and the and so when you're getting down to either a kid size shirt or say a lapel for you know you get some quarter zip fans over here the logo becomes more difficult and I remember when we had talked about the logo before of these changes being somewhat of a stop Gap until we could have a larger conversation which is where I think if we go there that's when licensing if we do something different than the clock face because there are some details that still make this logo a little bit difficult to work with well but there so in that case The Branding guidelines might say hey it's recommend that if you go below this uh this size that you use the block a as

041this as as a logo right so you know because at that you're not getting the detail anyway so what what's the it it looks like this weird thing when you get small as opposed to a nice clean block a and so maybe the brand guidelines are more along the lines of you know just as you do this plan for this because you you if you they are using our it also hurts our brand if it looks like crap exactly which so I I weeded mine out and then I went to put it on my own personal like secondary t-shirt that I wanted it just small and right here and I was like and so I abandoned it so that's I I I like your idea I'll do the a yeah um do we have an

042example of a a negative space like a knockout um so one of the designs we were considering was having a a football helmet that was kind of vintaged like you know crackly and whatnot and then having the a as a negative space on the helmet in a very vintage like is that allowed like we didn't end up going that route but is that I mean there there's black and white block a it's probably a followup after yeah we have the I did you look through the folder that was shared although logo files are there but again we are still working on them and we will continue to update so even this was using the logo essentially as a subtraction right not an addition okay and so that's a different use case than what was shown

043examples of if it if we find that it's something that needs to be done then we can definitely work with um sundon and and add that to our file types um right now the message probably right now is not to do anything that's not blatantly there there's probably all kinds of other things that people can come up with well I it was kind of like that but you know I think just for for starters we should stick to what's being presented yeah and and again we want people to be able to be creative like we want spirit wear and we want you know but it has to stay within Brandon it still has to look like it's part of the Aston Public Schools so that's you know um but we again we'll be working on

044adding if we see something so even when we first roll this out the last meeting that I was supposed to present to you there's been two different logal types since then because we realized okay we need them for these specific cases right so we're still adding to it um and we will be sharing that and again the Google Drive I mean everything will be added there we'll send a letter um and then of course um going back to who's going to enforce it the letter will very specifically say you know if you you are part of a club or you know a community anything you you have to talk to an adviser or talk to a director or something before that so and then of course with the fundraising um which is has been the

045case before is that they're already putting up the store and then they ask permission for the fundraiser right so they should ask permission for the fundraiser and then order their stuff and make sure that it's in line with our branding so that's going to be on in the letter as well yeah so maybe when we we modify the policy Chris maybe something on the form for U fundraising you know can be do you are you going to be producing anything you know relative to this that can then trigger uh you know flag it up to to esmer that there should be some kind of connection to ensure that things meet the guideline not just hey here's the policy says that you need to do it but if we add something to a form that they

046do to for submitting fund rais raising it's it's going to flag that up during the process all right any other questions I was going to say we have we have an athlete a student athlete at the table not to put her on the spot in her first meeting but I was curious what what reaction you have to everything you're seeing here and um I know a lot of sports teams had a particular had a particular concern about the clock face see the green light yep it's on um yeah so I remember um last uh year before um Mr Marx had resigned he was trying to unify the uh sports logo for ashon schools and I actually didn't I until he brought it up I didn't realize like actually how many different like each sport has

047its own different a um I know that the football team has like the curved a and not anymore but not anymore I used to but um I remember that being a logo and I thought it was like pretty interesting how like like even that we're still like like we're such a small town so I feel like we there should be just like one specific a that unifies us I think it it me it just makes more sense because we're just like a smaller Community um but for the sports I do think like yes in order to like fundraise and you know uh be creative with the uh logo um they could have that opportunity but um but remaining in the same like grounds as like what the actual like a is like like again with

048like the guidelines but um I think like it would for each if each sport like had like the same a and like like below I do like the logo where it says like um like ash public schools and um you know you have that logo and then like the sport below it like I do like the um lacrosse one if you had that for like each sport I think that would be like very I think that'd be good because you have the it's Ashen high school that same you know font and then just below you could have like LaCrosse or football or wrestling whatever and I think that would be very um unifying so those are the kind of things that would be like the the spirit wear rather than the uniform I mean you

049wouldn't have a football uniform this is Ash football on it no right but but like awe shirt like that would I definitely would see that like on a sweatshirt or like even like on warmups or something like that or mug y or um like gone sweatpants or something like that and then I guess for like I think it probably like the Ashlin where just says Ashlin lacrosse I could definitely see that on a t-shirt um while the rest is kind of too big I I feel like or too much to be on like a smaller piece of clothing but um I know there's a bunch of different ways you could go about it but uh I still think like even if you had like Ashlin High School lacrosse on a sweatshirt and then you just

050have Ashlin like whatever on a ashin whatever on like a t-shirt it's still pretty you know in the same realm so so I think it's it could still work cool thanks thank you you're welcome well thank you for that um I do want to say that um we so the clocker club will have a social media intern and part of that will also be kind of um working on the sports icons so we will try to unify it and again it's just um for to make it easier for you all and then of course also part of this is just being cost effective for our families right so they don't have to be buying gear every time they get every you know every year because they're using a different logo or whatever right and um

051that's you know part of our strategic plan resource management and also from our Equity audit it's like athletic fees and the cost should not be a barrier for our students to join you know because they can't afford uniforms because they have to buy something every single year um or warm-ups or you know if it's optional um whatever so it's we're going to try to unify that for them and then make it cost effective for our families too so you can use it for like from as freshman to senior or whatever you know you don't outgrow it but we're going to try to do that um so that is something we'll be working on yeah thanks esmer I just have one question Jim do you have a a preference when you're thinking of the helmets if

052it's the block a or if it's the the full logo I don't long as it falls with the lines that as was put down there they can make that decision their own decision roughly speaking I mean I haven't even tried to think about how many different places our logo is now but um if we thought about sort of the time Horizon of we're placing things in the normal cycle and in sort of the transition period we have an idea of what we think that's going to take five to 10 years I mean in terms of just buying new uniforms buying new uniforms I think it's probably once every four years the teams are being um getting new uniforms so that's fall winter spring I mean unless we had a windfall of cash to to provide

053to our athletic department which we don't I'm not sure if that's where it's that's my point is that's that's how long it takes because we're not um but at least they have the guidelines moving forward typically the uniforms go from The Varsity level down to the JB level to the fresman level so you're still going to have uh those uniforms in cycle for 10 to 12 years just the way it's going to work and then I said I can't even imagine with where where is it's going to like it's going to jump off the screen right now every time we're looking for it but like I imagine this the signs out front of the school buildings MH probably have like at the high school um so but those are probably Graphics that we can change

054because they're yeah the I know uh off the top of my head the middle school has yeah an old logo but again it's it'll just be when the time comes when the time comes we'll try to do it um there are a lot of places where our logo is there's even town I guess to Mark's point maybe uh you know if we have it already start start getting an inventory of the of the assets we do have that have that need to be replaced and then it can be on a plan right like the capital plan but for Logos think of it as less than Capital but it isal swoopy plan thank you for all your hard work thank you very much the effort that's everybody put into this something thank you good to see

055us making progress on just for the record she has we Mendes has the right font and everything on the graphics we have at Mendes yeah of course it does ex please don't tell me you put a big 60ft logo somewhere on the back of the building the the the the font on the on the graphics in the gym came from came from as yeah don't yeah don't let's not talk about the placement of them but yeah they're good you had to pick that scab didn't you opened up that can of work but they're correct all right no one notices except us I know and you probably didn't notice until I told you and and now you can't unsee it now oh gosh thank you all right Jim you're up superintendent goals and strategic plan you're

056not up well I am to a certain degree so we'll have you're down but you're up Mike's going to actually present a little bit of the the strategic planning objectives and the um the process that that we've been undertaking with Prem uh and the admin team and so what we're presenting tonight is really you all have been a part of the conversation for three to five year objectives right and um priorities what what we've done is we sat down as an admin team to focus on 23 24 so one school year setly and so what Mike will be presenting is um so if you slide down Mike so those are the currently those are the objectives Ives for currican planning Resource Management Equity social emotional learning that you all have had a voice in in

057creating so we went and took this and said how does it relate to what we can do in this current year in 23 24 so then doing a little triage pulling out what we want to focus on and for me I'm asking the question here for our next meeting how do you want me to approach super my superintendent goals utilizing the Strategic plan and the OB jectives or do you want me to focus on something different meaning we're going to implementing the strategies and our indicators can can certainly you know um tell us whether or not we're meeting our goals for the year but there's I think we have nine of them maybe in here Mike somewhere on there um and that typically nine goals in a year is would be a lot um especially

058to to go through the process of creating them um but we've sort of are looking for your your input and uh approval of the strategies and indicators that for these objectives for this year um youa you had asked hey are we going to come back to this group with strategies and what were we going to look at for indicators so that's what really what we're doing but focusing on 23 24 Prem will still be working with us to finalize the next three to five in addition to the portrait of a learner that's a separate component of this um because you know Mur did the the portrait of a graduate but we're trying to get that prek through 12 now so that's going to take a little bit of work uh with Prem to to tease

059that up so I'll turn over to Mike in terms of what we pulled out of the three to five year to really focus on for 23 24 do do you want to put in a pin relative to what you were asking about your goals till the end of it or or do you want us to you know provide that feedback now as to as to to where you should be going with so prefer you give me a little bit of feedback after you you see this and say hey you know what we'd like you to draft your goals on maybe four or five of these we're our team in all the buildings are going to focus on all nine and these will be part of the school Improvement plans that's part of the reason why

060I mean we're so late with getting the school Improvement plans out it's partly because we want you to be comfortable with the objectives that we're focused on in 23 I think also as I'm sure you would anyway but if there are things outside of this because the focus was for the long-term strategic plan but if there were more immediate things that need your attention that have not shown up on this plan you can fill us in right and I would ask if there there are things that you're thinking about that aren't necessarily part of the Strategic plan that you say Hey you know Jim think about this as a goal yeah and and craft that for us got for the next meeting okay yeah all right Mike so yeah as Jim just talked about this

061is obviously a four-pronged approach here we have the we have the Strategic priorities which you know of which those four main strategic priorities curriculum planning Equity social emotional learning and resource management and then as a group we've all created these objectives now within the objectives there have to be strategies to help us um make sure that we are meeting the objective but within the next step of this we've had to determine how are we going to actually understand that we have met the objective and that's where these indicators come into play so what the administrative team did is we we spent some time um weeding out many of the things from the 3 to five year plan saying what can we actually get accomplished what do we think think we can do this one year

062this this first year um as well as what needs to be started immediately that might not necessarily be finished finished but we have to do immediate work on it right now and that's where you see these strategies uh and then the indicators that we have on this table are really how we can prove that we've made progress towards the strategies um so I I'll go through it um obviously answer any questions that you have um typically don't want to just read things but that's sort of how where we are at this point so I mean just for sort of broad broad Strokes what we're ultimately going to be asked I think to provide Direction on is is really which objectives right at the objective level rather than trying to get into the weeds of the

063strategies right when we're talking about sort of a end goal sorry end result I say end goal the goals but end result of this discussion um which I think it sounds like we're going to come back to at our next meeting you're going to be presenting goals that are similar to The Objective level correct beast and and so that's where we should be focusing kind of our thoughts on as we go through this yes yeah yeah I think that makes sense and I think ultimately the indicators what we are what we will be presenting to you throughout the year to show that we've actually met our objective and that what I was going to say we probably also focus on the indicators because that that'll be what's meaningful to us that yeah and I think

064one of the things that that the team would like some feedback on and I personally would like some feedback on is to make sure we're not missing a particular indicator that you may think that we should be looking at um we we feel like we've we've provided a pretty comprehensive list of indicators for each of the strategies uh and Tred to really be specific towards though but there might be things that you would like to see us still add here U I think that's that's the important Conversation Piece yeah that was kind of the comment I was going to make just to guide the discussion um because you know we did come up with the overall um strategies and asked you to come up with the indicators and I just out of respect for the

065Educators who know what the indicators should be and are working in there I I'm hoping that we don't get too much in the weeds of like why' you do that why' you do that can you you know I I would hope that the discussion goes more in the way of if we've noticed something's missing or if maybe too much emphasis was put in one area but not another area but I just caution us to not try to change your indicators yeah yeah I would I I will say that there a great deal of thought in conversation when they've had Retreats and they've had you know and it's the people who are in the classroom and are running the buildings that um I so I just want to make clear that I'm feeling that that's not

066our job here is to say you know that's not a good indicator do this instead of that unless there's something glaring but uh but certainly well I mean but I would also say that we should understand what the indicator the reason behind them I it's a conversation right have a question if I'm saying hey that doesn't make any sense I should go and ask like how's that going to be mean yeah I'm not saying not ask your questions but I'm just saying with an eye towards understanding versus like we're going to redo this absolutely so the one thing I want Mike just if you can scroll all the way to the top right so so remember what you're going to notice if you have this information in front of you so I was going to

067ask you did you forward this Rec this was in the folder okay so so the curricul planning you'll see the objectives so there are four objectives that we talked about for a 3 to fiveyear plan right so so Mike just slide down to the first set of of objectives and strategies right so not all did we actually choose all four this time yeah we did because we felt it was important so um some of them we did choose all four but so we started with with that level granular discussion first you know in in the curriculum component do we want all four objectives and then for this year because when we start about improving student learning next year there might be different strategies right but we're focused on this year so yeah okay I I

068I mean I hope it makes sense at this point for me to s of move forward and really spend some time talking to you about the specific indicators so for instance um objective one here improve student learning uh curriculum consistency of instruction align to the portrait of a learner across grades you're going to notice that you know completing the portrait of a learner is not one of our strategies because we don't think that that can be accomplished this year although we will start the process uh but instead we've got different strategies for instance instituting the newly developed bcap uh which stands for building curriculum accommodation plan and District curriculum accommodation plan with Fidelity across all schools how are we going to know that that happens well it's the compettion the completed document and then we're

069going to be tracking the number of curriculum accommodation plans that have been created at the specific schools to see how this is being utilized in and how we are going about making sure students are getting what they need through the creation um of this newly developed bcap dcap document and what have you done even as of yesterday yeah and well as of as of yesterday and as of you know this entire year so far we've presented this to every one of our of our schools all staffs have have been um presented with about an hourlong presentation about the bcap and the dcap how it directly relates to our strategic plan um and then for instance the middle school um tomorrow during their faculty time they are going to be working with Mr Morrow and Mr

070djo take a look at the bcap and dcap and talk about how these particular com ation would look what how they would look within the context of a middle school classroom um we're still working on finalizing the document for publishing to uh families however it is a working document that is completed in terms of all of our staff has access to the new working document that that we're utilizing tomorrow um meeting with the um Deans and APS who did a significant amount of work on this particular document and we're going to be talking about next steps in particular how often are we going to be reviewing baps decaps what is the final document or template actually going to look like that will be created ultimately for students and parents to see when one of these

071is created for their child um so those are also other indicators right is is the creation of all of these documents that will come so can I ask a question on this and I I think it's way way outside of our scope but I'm just I'm curious about this um when you look at sort of this as a as a particular strategy right working on this and you can look at the completed document meaning the the plans right and then you look at the number do you have an ability or does a building principal whoever the right person is have the ability to test for the consistency based on sort the presentation of circumstances right so what what always concerns me and I think one of the things when we talked about this objective was

072you know how do we know that a kid who's got whether it's do you have different teachers you have different circumstances whatever it is but present similarly how do we know that we're getting to them in the same way yeah so I I think I think that's where these next indicators come into play so it's it's a really big objective right improve stud improve student learning in curriculum the world better how are we going to ensure that all of our students are getting what they need when they need it well obviously these the you know incorporating baps and dcaps is part of it but we've got to then know are these baps and dcaps being successful and and the way to do that is through this the next piece right we're going to be looking

073at Dibbles data we're going to be looking in Dibbles again uh alphabet soup right the dynamic indicator of basic early literacy skills that we've talked about that a number of times here at these meetings uh we're going to be looking at our I ready data we're now doing I ready as you know from K to 8 for Diagnostic assessment in mathematics and Ela um we're using the Amplified data that we get in from science um uh we're utilizing that now in grades 6 through 8 and as you know amplify and dibles correlate with one another too for that's that's really you'll sometimes hear those said one and the same in terms of our early elementary kids and then obviously we're going to be looking at mcast data um one of the things that we're we're

074talking about actively is this this dashboard that we showed you last year um I'm still meeting with open Architects because we want to be able to include all of this data on that dashboard which will ultimately lead to individual Student Success plans that will come on later so these indicators that we have here will provide us you know the ability to to measure are our students growing based on some of the changes and strategies that we're implementing so quick question Mike in terms of like developing the new baps and dcaps is part of the discussion also talking with teachers like H what what are the red flags for when a kid needs one of these and we should put them on so part of my presentation um that we that we did was in conjunct

075function with our department of student services and and what we did is we took everybody through a flowchart right how would we be determining what a child is getting on a bcap recap and and more specifically how are we going to determine when it's an official one rather than one that's more of okay these are things that we need that we're going to accommodate because technically many of these these accommodations are really best practices right right so um yeah that's been talked about in and it's going to continue to be talked about because obviously it's not an official process it's very different than well there will be a process good well I was just but just I mean obviously with you know like my lawyer had the off it's not like the IEP process right

076where there's like all the regs and whatnot set we created a flowchart yeah we created a flowchart that all staff has access to that they can see um and you know off the top of my head for example you you and I talked about yesterday with science department yeah yeah so if a student is struggling okay they have options right they can go and they can take a look and open up this document and they can go and they can make sure that they're giving the key what they need well if those if some of those accommodations aren't working right then they're probably going to be going to the next step which is the RTI process well if a student is then found ineligible after the RTI RTI process is is continued um and they

077testing occurs perhaps and there's no disability found well they're not going as you know they won't have a 504 or they won't have an IEP but they're their challenges don't go away so we're making that clear with folks this is when you actually would create this official document and you would fill out the template that would be done in conjunction with counselors and would be passed along to all all teachers that are seeing this student and ultimately passed along to parents and passed along with the student year to year but reviewed regularly to make sure that you know things change needs change so I'm confident that this is going to help help us um and it's also it's Mass General law that we have to have these documents and I think people need to have

078be more aware of the fact that you know not every kid needs this but every kid does need to make sure we're providing them with appropriate accommodations right well I think Tina's line of questioning is where I was going in thinking of long-term tracking of a child that maybe is determined to need one of these documents and essentially like the conver verion rate of to a 504 to an IEP eventually and understanding you know and I and I think that the actual success data that you're measuring as indicators is perfect looking and tracking longterm did we start with a bcap here and was it we'll be able to do that and and with and hopefully like when we talk about demographics student demographics right one of our one of our things that we see on

079our dashboard right now through open our Architects is we have a different we have set of parameters for students who are high needs students who are on IEP students who are on 504s well we can work with open Architects to ask them to add students who are on a bcap or Decap an official one and we can do that so it will allow us to truly get that lunge and tudal data about how that student is performing and we can we can maybe measure how they were doing before and how they were doing after these are things that we can do um again those won't happen overnight but this is this is things we we will be able to get assistance with by partnering with with that particular um organization I think we can move

080towards the next one this could be a long night folks so so the next one's easy um professional learning plan uh we want to develop one and Implement one when we talked about the fact that this has not been done and it needs to be done well really what's the indicator there is actually the the completed document right we're not really looking for much more right now than a completed document further down down the road we'll talk about how that has directly impacted student learning but that's not the objective here the objective is just to complete a document that includes Equity as part of it right and is this a document that you're doing with like teacher input it's not just one that you guys are corre yeah I know there's I'm assuming a bigger

081process yeah there'll be a really big process to put this together it's going to be lengthy uh it's really one of the things that we're going to be taking advantage of our curriculum leadership teams we have monthly meetings with curriculum leaders um so each month will be this will be part of the agenda is to talk about the the plan and put it in place it's going to be starting with the Advent team but it will trickle down so this to me when we're looking at goals yeah this is a m goal this is this isn't a gym goal right so when we're looking at the objectives here this is where it falls under his can I ask with a note it's a 7-6 yeah I'm not sure I think that's with a Prem thing

082okay so I think that's a know for Prem for himself that be my only question when like I wasn't sure I don't I don't know what what that means I'm assuming it's one of his notes but you're going to be held to it though yeah has to be done by July 6th of last year so uh next obviously to expand academic and extracurricular offerings the strategies to review the current course offerings and student interests as well as embed intentional Community Service uh what do we have to do here well we're going to look at student surveys uh we're going to be taking a look at a percentage of student participation in courses as well as student participation in community service Athletics extracurriculars and we're going to you know break that down into subgroups as well

083what what does it look like in terms of our different demographics in terms of who is participating and what are they participating in uh we also want to get a list a clear list of the number of opportunities that we're providing to students so we can see are we providing them with a substantial amount of um extracurricular opportunities as well as um community service opportunities and then another way to you know measure that would just be through a publication of of what we're providing our students at the various schools okay next one uh create effective Equitable and sustainable systems of collaboration and scheduling to maximize student learning for all well that means looking at student schedules uh identifying opportunities in the schedule and the calendar to increase uh professional learning um and in particular the

084ash Middle School will continue the analysis and ultimately conduct the analysis of the building schedule to make sure that we are meeting the needs of our students there um Kelly in staff are are are are taking part in a um scheduling cohort pilot right now so the completion of that pilot is a is a huge deal so that will be an indicator and we'll we'll get information from that pilot um a completion of a Time on learning evaluation so we've got to take a look at our time on learning we'll evaluate that at all of our different schools to make sure uh and look at and actually I I really want to delve deep into that and see not just time on learning but time on learning on specific subject areas especially at the elementary

085levels as well as Middle School U and then percentage of student participation in courses we've got to look at that U we obviously are talking with extracurriculars in the in the objective above but here's when we're looking at actual you know subject matter who is participating uh in and what levels are they participating in um and then we want to develop a professional collaboration schedule calendar that would be embedded within obviously the professional learning plan that is developed can I just ask while you're on the the these this one and the one before Jim your perspective of whether how much these fall under sort of your belly Wick or mics or principles because it feels like they're so a lot of these are me and and also so for me like as I'm going through

086them the first objective that's a goal for me right that's the one that I would focus on for me for Mike certainly number two but three um and four we're dealing with Dave and Kelly specifically within their goal sets as well yeah okay that's why I was reading but I want to get your s you're going through me that's why right so when we get to your discussion we'll just go back to what you've noted first we'll start there on the third bullet might when you say by subgroup you're looking at demographic data demographic and and and also special ed data well that's those there special education is a subgroup so the highes population our El population our demographics yeah everything that's all part of the subgroup data subgroup data that would be included um

087on the mcast data that we get plus more okay um and obviously uh you know come to some finality with the AMS schedule is it going to change are we keeping it let's get that conversation to a come to an end of that conversation what does it look like moving forward and and let me be clear when we're looking at that we're still dealing with finances right and how that fits into the overall budget scheme and enrollment and in order to determine how how we're going to fund it if if the schedule stays the same and the half teams are appropriate because of the numbers how are we funding that so the SR money is going away how are we then budgeting to keep those um faculty in our system in our operating system you

088know Chris Dave and I we've already had these conversations and we started pre-planning for it last year when we mve some of the SR money from different um salary lines so so moving on to the Strategic priority that uh Resource Management so this is less my baileywick but I'm still going to present it but this a lot of this would be having to do with Chris's Department as well as uh uh really our building principles who we're going to be in charge of maintaining order you know what their building does but one of the strategies that is to conduct uh regular safety assessments as well as secure funding to create action plans to ensure a safe and secure physical environment one of the reasons that we we talked about securing funding is um you may

089be aware that we have utilized in the past something called crisis manager that has been an app that we've used to to promote um the plans for all of our staff um it's no longer an app that is being supported by crisis manager they're they're they're going out so we've got to determine is there funding for a new one or do we want to just develop something in house that we think we can utilize appropriately and I really I mean that's where I I sort of want to push us um but how are we going to do this how are we going to ensure that these things are happening well through the Safety Committee agendas and minutes we'll look at what we talk about um principal communication um to ensure that we've got these things

090being sent out to the community um again identify safety protocols to train Off full and temporary staff the the way to know that that's done is just just to make sure that we have you know proof of whether or not those staff have attended those meetings or what not again ashon Middle School will begin installation of cameras again is the the indicator is was it completed is it you know have we have we implemented go Guardian you see that strategy there uh and we'll look at go gog guardian we can actually get data about how often go Guardian is being utilized um and then a ultimately a completion of a facility's audit that's something that we want to do you can see that as a strategy is to conduct the facilities audit on our existing

091infrastructure well yeah like what what kind I'm gonna punt that to my my friend across the table hi Chris what does that mean how are you um facilities audit having a third party your mic on oh sorry facilities audit essentially having a third party contractor come through the uh the schools and buildings and look to see what they're recommending for deferred maintenance or any any maintenance needs that we may have so then that gives us something to react to other than than just have an internalized look at it I mean we can certainly add some value there too but I think having a third party would be would be helpful the last time we have was 2016 2015 okay thank you so moving on to the next strategic priority which is equity as you know

092we've done some significant work on this already and we will continue to um objective is to maximize the academic growth of every student um so we're going to create a comprehensive data team process in collaboration with S3 um that's the group right now that the Warren school is working with um to help set the stage for how we are going to um utilize data team meetings in the future uh we're going to conduct a comprehensive special education audit and Implement recommendations uh ashon Middle School will create issps individualize Student Success plans for each student at the middle school ultimately as you know our goal is to have an issp for everyone but the middle school is taking on the school of starting there uh work for for each student in 6 through 8 um and

093then we will conduct five data meetings to review student reading math andal data for all students and create learning plans for each child and that is at the warrant school right now um actually at Mendes as well I believe so again how are we going to know this is happening for the special education it's just the completion of the audit as you know Britney has already um uh come to an agreement with some folks to come in and complete that audit so we are on our way for the first steps of that um it's the creation of the documents um for for all students and then um we're going to be looking at the notes from the planning meetings uh with S3 and and find out what the uh re ultimate recommendations from S3 are

094for us that will be a good indicator of what we that we've at least come close to completing those goals so the indicator here lists the second one the second bullet creation of issps for students who did not meet expectations on mcast but then the strategy talks about issps for all students so is the first step because I doesn't the middle school already do that yeah in ultim so that that's for December 1st 2023 But ultimately it end of the year from everyone so that's that's again that's just good conversation so we should be adding ultimately an indicator of the completion of all students right y so the next one uh provide more Equitable access to all levels of curriculum and activities this really relates back to the the first objective as well um so

095we've got to develop a plan for equity and differentiation within the plan within professional learning plan um well the indicator there is again the completion of the plan um we'll conduct a review of math placement process to maximize opportunities for all students to have Equitable access to advanced math levels student data and participation in accelerated math will be examined uh again what percentage of our students are participating we have to look at you know who's in those classes um then Mendes has some specific ones mes staff will develop a shared understanding of equity and cultural responsive schools um as you uh I think you're aware Mendes is working with an organization called adaptive X which which is sponsored by desie so as Warren is working with S3 on data teams Mendes is working with adaptive

096X to to improve um our cultural responsive teaching practices so that's a huge goal of Jenna and the staff there um and then the implementation of ST Math for all students in K2 um they have uh they're piloting right now ST Math which is a an online math program um students are participating in that regularly they should be getting I believe um 45 minutes a week on ST Math and it's a it's a program where students uh have to persevere and problem solve through puzzles and it's really a a fantastic program um and the kids seem to be enjoying it they follow and they track the progress of GG the Penguin and GG the penguin has to to move through different stages uh and when when when Mr Adams and I walk into into the

097classrooms and the kids are using it they they talk to us about the different levels you know I I've already completed so many levels on this and there there's a level of excitement about this speaking their's no instru yeah there's no direction this is that thing it's it's you know we we talk about productive struggle a little bit is a wonderful way to build resiliency and productive struggle for these students and they and they enjoy it too because GG's a cute p right so it works um so again how are we going to know that these things are happening um well we we will um look at the PD plan that's been done um I feel like some of this is out of order here um we'll we'll analyze the student participation of stmath um

098there'll be a completed statement demonstrating shared understanding and shared responsibilities in terms of equity and what equity is um we identify a means for me so this is out of order here so the belonging piece um I I'll go back to it when when we get there I'm not sure how that happened yeah um but we will also be publishing an updated APS math placement process okay that's that that will be indication that the plan has been completed there uh will be a published document there okay um establish intentional this is next foral so that indicator that was above it I don't know why it got moved yeah so that should be done this should be one here that correlates to that correlates to um that second bullet percentage Yeah we we've got to make

099sure that we have the the adults The Trusted adult I'm not sure where that ended up here I don't I don't see it um but you know we've talked about that specifically the last one oh yeah I see it on the lower right I don't know why I'm not survey data the bottom middle create create assess and analyze yeah so you see an in Social emotion learning create assess and analyze strategies to ensure each student has a trusted adult well I'm going to go back up here um ENT we have to identify a means for measuring student belonging at prek to 5 all right first of all and that will help us and we're going to be also using um our surveys that are done through the Metro West Alliance uh that the relationship survey

100at AMS and AHS that's going to help us determine if students have these trusted adults okay so again we have that that that indicator should be on the next the the next uh table right so can I that maybe a broader question so this is we've been talking about year one which by the way Mike it looks like you're be really busy yeah um yeah it's it's G to be a busy year yeah um and a lot of this looks like um it's sort of getting plan in place and in in some circumstances sort of evaluating first year I would assume then that like years two through five is so okay what did we learn and now the next step right which is yeah I mean I I think a lot of these things that's

101why it's a three to five year plan and and I think we have to be fed ourselves too and understand that some of these things are lofty and there's certain things like creating the document yeah that's going to be finished um will every student have a trusted adult by the end of the year I maybe not but but at least we'll have some indication of what we need to do so understand who has one right now um as well as you know defining what that actually means so those things can be accomplished quite easily but you know to your point mark there there's a lot of these things that are going to have to be continued yeah no it's it's the sort of some some parts of it are foundational work and some are are

102more than that if you go again go back to the social emotional learning back to the initial page uh the third bullet I'll go all the way like to the first page of the document slide up so that third bullet Mark continuously improv School climate and culture so after you've done the first two now you've got indicators that hopefully will help us then Define what looks what it looks like over the next three to five years and and Mike didn't you kind of bring up a good point when you're talking about this what what's the I'm just trying to understand the the framework and what this document is and how it goes from year to year so so this document we're going over how does it plug into the the Strategic plan blueprint whatever we're

103calling it and because this while that's a living document this also too needs to be a living document that okay we got this done this year these things are still and you create a new one so so so I'm going to stop sharing for just a second try to pull and I can pull something up for you so we we've had a lot of internal dialogue with regard to I bet we have four different versions of this document alone and and what we're calling outward facing documents or what people folks will see on the website Etc uh in the dashboard that PR talks about and then there are internal documents that we're working through and that are like checklist that are checklist if you will right that that we're not necessarily publishing that that we're

104able to track internally to say but share with you to say the these are the things we've done kind of like site council at the end well I'm just kind of from a framework perspective is this like a district Improvement plan kind of document it is this is a district Improvement but that being said each building will have their own School Improvement plans but then pull some of this stuff right so so so I'm just trying to correlate to the the new what we're going because we used to have the blueprint right and then the school Improvement plans but this seems like an intermediary an intermediary document is District Improvement plan that that so we have our strategic plan or blueprint and then this and then fluid part of the Strategic plan so ultimately we

105will create a do you know we will have a true document we'll have maybe a one pager um or it could be more than that because of all that we're doing but what it will include specifically is this so here's you see our strategic objectives okay with with with the different um the priorities in their objectives and then it will get deeper right here is what the actual strategies are this is this is all of the strategies that we have for the next three to five years so with no indic you right so we're we're pulling out so in the green those are the things that we sat down with pram and the admin team and we said okay what are the most important priorities this year well I guess structurally I'm just like I

106said I'm not diving into these specifics but it's structurally before we had the blueprint and then we went straight down to school Improvement this document seems like it's a good thing that we should have a district Improvement plan so we have the the blueprinter or strategic plan that has the three to five year look this ESS that's what this is and so so I'm looking at this I'm like okay this is something that we didn't have before we had we had that so we went from straight from a strategic plan that was a 3 to five year thing to individual School Improvement plans that are year to year here this seems like so we cre an umbrella above that which is seems valuable to me yeah we're creating a oneyear plan when one year plan

107for the district corre that then sits sits in between the the Strategic and but this is but this is where it branches from it's here right yeah yeah it's great Paul I think that's a really good comment in terms of maybe working with Prem with the flowchart of how this that's what I'm saying structurally I think what you're doing here is valuable so let's make sure we call it out and have it as a structural thing whether it's a district ement plan or whatever that is a year-to-year document that grows and changes right the same way as the school Improvement plans or your you can see the movement right I think it's a valuable thing that we were were were lacking before that going through this process now we'll have that structural level so you

108you asked for feedback Jim in terms of sort of where where your goals ought to be in this right um you were making notes I'm curious what else well I was making notes on things that I think other than probably make sure Mike's doing this or or Chris or anybody right um but certainly within kirc and planning you know goal number one the safe learning environment again we we sat down and triy to figure out who really is responsible ultimately for all of these things right I mean for me it's ensuring that the resources are are provided ensuring that the principles are actually working through um you know the strategies and implementing them um but how does that really relate to a goal that's just my job right I mean that's the struggle that I

109have setting certain goals with this is it's just really what well I mean so maybe maybe goal is the wrong word but but but it's but but it's it's what you should be F your job should be focusing on that year are the goals it's not it's not saying hey go above and beyond what you're supposed to be doing no it's it's defining what you're doing what you're supposed to be focusing on right it's a little bit of both right like if if if there are other things you I mean you don't just throw other things in there just to have the other things I mean if it's a huge undertaking and it also is part of your job which all these things are then you don't start throwing things into the mix everything in

110your in a goal is part of your job right you by definition we're not asking we're not asking you manager or something if you like whatever take the courses on how to like do a good gold sheet yeah the smart are right the smart sometimes it's you know you're also looking to you know ways that unique ways that move the district forward that not part of your everyday job like we'd like to see this big step happen in in this one area and we're and we're not having those conversations because so much has been put into this so I don't think we have to make things up but I'm just saying there's sometimes there's room for things go beyond yeah yeah it could could be it could be a personal growth thing like hey develop

111Dev SK it's huge yeah absolutely it's and so in in essence it's kind of these are all incompass correct underneath that right right yeah right yeah I mean and it hits on all the topics we usually hit on in our goals social emotional learning and the communication like all those are things that are repeat goals and for the most part almost I'd say 90% of the things that are on all your goals are things that other people have to do um because your your your job is is to manage and lead not to you know be down in the trenches all you you do get down there but that's not what you're not an implementer of most of these things um so I mean my thing is even if some of these aren't that they're

112very specific uh to a building maybe create a goal that um umbrellas those into a singular goal of how you're going to facilitate and help those things occur so you know if there's 10 things listed here and six of them are hey that's that's Kelly that's the wrap up one goal how do you how are you going to facilitate all six of those and maybe that's a goal of yours to how does that relate to what are you doing to facilitate or make sure that all those things happen you don't I don't think either any one specific one would be you but maybe that's a way to capture a goal another way I was I was thinking about I was looking at the the chart here and I was trying to think about things that

113that really feel um discreetly more under like in Mike's perview even though he's going to be working on with building principles and others as distinct from sort of the broader higher level stuff that Jim might be more involved in so I'm looking at like the last one here to ensure all students have a sense of belonging and are connected to the school Community very broad thing right and yet he's not he's might be you know a person people feel connected to a student might feel connected to you it's not your primary responsibility at the same time implementing that making sure that that's happening and driving that feels like that's in some respects a school culture goal which I think is a little bit distinct from Mike's goal right is in terms of curriculum assessment Etc

114so I could see looking at it's just a way of thinking about this right how are you going to make sure it's happening it's how are you going to create the environment to you know facilitate I would think about the goals for Jim being being the ones that focus on sort of where is it that you're you're driving more of that cultural level stuff than a little bit more of the boots on the ground stuff that that Mike might be pushing just a way I'm kind of reacting as I'm reading the chart I don't know if that how that feels to the two of you um but it feels F again it feels fine to me it's just this is just one piece of of a puzzle to create the goals yeah so and I'm

115not saying you know it's the full implementation of our district Improvement plan if you will right um for the year but then I want you to think about and you can just shoot me an email separately and say Hey you know I'd like you to consider maybe something a goal centered around X yeah because just thinking about your goals in the past like just kind like implementation of the Strategic plan it would basically put all of the goals up into one and I feel like spreading it out a little I mean not that it spreads out your work but like delineating it a little if that's the right word breaking it out a little bit more in terms of what are those areas right that that approach I mean splitting it out like you're saying

116has focus in terms of what we're going to look at like which piece of that category is yours you know um I I only laugh because it's all his all it's you know again I'll I'll Pat my boss on the back I guess a little bit and it's never a moment where Jim doesn't have his hands in all these things anyway so I I think I think you know I I laugh a little bit about ensure all students have a sense of belonging are connected to the school Community well we're in we're in schools more people probably know Jim than they know so you think about that connection that's being made so I would I would actually you know obviously I'm not going to make your goals for you but I would think a goal

117around that connection would be a perfect goal for Jim in particular because that's what he does doing anyway I guess that's where also that's probably a good angle for what I was feeling I probably wasn't articulating it as well is to your point and to what you just said if there's 10 things and two of them are you know things like you mentioned that really align to you maybe that's a goal but then the other eight can also be a goal and in facilitating those because I believe that he plays a role in the success of those individuals well he's ultimately responsible for whether or not they but there's are ones to your point mark that really really are him more than the others but also because he spends he's going to spend so much

118time facilitating and being a part of all the others when something's that much uh when you spend that much time it should be part of a goal as well and so that's why I was talking that's that's probably a better better way to say what I was trying to say before about cons taking the other ones and bubbling up into how you going to participate facilitate those why don't we do it within the next week if people have ideas just make sure it comes within the next week so then Jim has a week to formulate the language of the go and then we'll entertain everything at the next meeting and if you feel like there's any other indicators that we need please let me know um because we again we we have we think we've

119done a pretty comprehensive job of of getting lots of indicators for each of the different strategies oh absolutely um and I didn't go over all the ones but that's really Jen Cutler's World anyways and there's some significant things here that you see there's going to be plenty of data around all of the theal strategies that we've used and I just want to throw this out um I know I've said it before but I um I don't I want to make sure that it gets captured in some way because I don't think it's I think it's a fair body of work that uh is easy to you know assume isn't uh and that put my Mendes hat back on you know with the programming decisions we made several years ago to unify the programs and then

120we had a plan to start to un those and we ripped off the Band-Aid with the pandemic and so it's how are we making ensuring that um whether it be the mindes school Improvement plan something in our district goals that uh help realize both the programming component of that like now that we have a building that you know supports that that Vision but also the the second part of that is from external lens it probably looks really simple that we have all the these awesome spaces at Mendes that we don't have we didn't have before but I think even to utilize those spaces it takes some thought and and and because you can't just say oh I know I know how to use those comments I know how to use the courtyard I know I

121think that's it probably takes a lot more curricular you know thought than than than dis appears from the outside so how do we capture Ure that that that we focus enough on that so that we we we get the value and cuz part of it goes to the equity because if we don't do it in a structured thoughtful way it ends up that hey teacher a really does a great job of leveraging these spaces but not teacher B and so then we we we have that we have a lack equity and a lack of fidelity with how our students are experiencing that and accessing so you know what I mean so if we don't do it in a thoughtful structured way one teacher be like that teacher's been out and utilizing these spaces and enriching

122their students with these awesome spaces but they did it on their own and then we don't we have other teachers that are not comfortable doing that or didn't think of how to do that you know so so just ensuring that we're both realizing our programming Vision that we had but also how are we you know starting to to leverage the spaces we have the new spaces we have in a thoughtful structured way that it's being done with some level of fidelity and consistency I think you know like I agree with this it certainly falls into the school Improvement plans to ensure that that's occurring right and In fairness that's what we said we would do you know so I think we want to we did get distracted for a couple years but I think we

123need to really make sure it's followed through in a a planned way y um and I I can say with confidence it's already started happening yeah they had their first Community Learning day um last week where where groups got together and it was a crossr levels and across all um all all staff was involved so I you know I know that's going to happen within your school Improvement plan and Jenna is working on that already yeah and and and a lot of times I'm I'm I'm also talking about it let's capture it in the the Improvement plans or priorities such that it's recognized the amount of time they're going to spend working on that stuff so we're not oh you have lots of time we're going to he Heap all this other stuff on it

124right so to ensure that that time is a lot and and not filled with something else okay are you all okay with switching up the agenda a little bit so we can do the boys basketball overnight trip before we do the Mike You' be here while yeah you definitely don't want there's there's no need to wait if you think this was boring wait till you hear that conversation so but please come up and do introduce yourself to those of us who haven't met you yet and you can then share with us about the trip thank you very much for moving me up Mike Norman um open up no it's it's on the seat it's on the seat over there that's so the yes so the you put it on the podum there I am hey

125welcome great I'll stand back here yeah as a flattering angle um so I'm Mike Norman I'm the boys basketball coach um at the high school and I'm here before you tonight for the second year in a row asking for your approval to take the boys on an overnight uh one night team building trip at the start of our season um last year I took them out to Western Massachusetts we stayed at a campsite we had a scrimmage first stayed at a campsite and did a lot of you know it's it's team building it's leadership training it's at this at times like this I think it's really important that boys are learning how to be a part of a group and be a part of a group appropriately I know a lot of people are scared

126off these days by overnights and trips and and with good reason I think there's a lot of things that have happened that are really really scary and and and sad for kids and at the same time I think sort of running from these types of things is also not the right solution I think the more time kids get to spend together um with adults who are you know comfortable doing this um I think it really helps them develop so um this would you know I did this for 5 years at the last school that I coached at and this would be the second time I'd be bringing a a trip for Mash land um this year we're hoping to go to cake Cod instead of Western Mass so we have um in craigville Beach the

127Centerville um there's a retreat center there where I actually spent some time in high school so it'll be uh and we'll again scrimmage down there and stay overnight and do some similar um team building work talk about how we're paying for it so the kids each family is responsible for 80% of it um it's I think it's like 113 $ per player um we're asking we would be asking families to pay 100 each and then from the boys basketball sub account we'd cover the rest of that um we cover the entire C the transportation it's the I drive a 15 passenger van we all come in that and uh that's covered by the sub account um food is in all included in the cost that the um the families pay and for families that you

128know that's obviously sensitive to ask if you can't cover it but we we have funds available I mean we have plenty in for the kids who can't afford it we don't exclude anybody they know that yep and and I assume because you're you're taking the basketball team you more familiar with the families that might need that as opposed to lot of the trips or things we we talk about they're soliciting to the broader you know audience and we talk about how do you you know get that Equity how do you make sure that students are still expressing interest regardless of their ability to pay but I assume here you're you're you're more familiar with the families and can can reach out and make sure that that's occurring absolutely and it's it's a small I mean

129it's 12 to 15 kids depending on you know the number of players that make the team and you know Kevin I can work with Kevin you know there's plenty of ways for us to communicate that with families and make sure that that's are you the only sh uh my assistant coach and I mean last year two of my assistant coaches one of them just got a job at another a coaching job at another school so he won't be with me this year but um at least one of assistant coaches will be there so it's minimum of two adults and 12 to 15 kids hopefully three adults and obviously you wouldn't be asking if this hadn't gone well on all the other times that you've done it yeah I think most kids if you ask them

130I mean obviously if the team is successful the thing they're going to say they love the most was the team being successful but right otherwise I think if you ask kids what sort of the highlights are of their season this experience generally is is a highlight yeah I can see why I'm in favor of that type of team bonding and I remember last year you you you told us a little bit more about uh that you well you don't have a lessons plan attached to this you do have uh lesson plans and and you planned maybe you can talk a little bit about that I know you did last year talk about it um it's actually a lot of the same uh we I use the same leader it's the Jeff Jansen leadership manual is

131the one that I use um so we'll do a lot of activities that come from that um I also pick a new theme every year I can't tell you our theme right now because it's the boys don't know it but I can tell you so last year's theme we uh stole a NASA um mission statement which was responsible to the element and accountable to the mission and that became our sort of slogan throughout the entire season and we spent a good portion of our um overnight actually like we watched Apollo 13 that was sort of one of our uh space themed events but we spent a lot of time talking about what that means to be responsible to you know a small item and also accountable to a larger group and so all of the

132sort of lessons are either based specifically on individual leadership on building team um chemistry comaraderie or focused on whatever that theme will be um so I I I can tell you more if you if you want more but no no I'd prefer not to next year I'll be happy to tell you about what this year that's how we'll do it every year you'll tell us about what happened last year I it was more about you know not just last year you went into more that you use that manual and and and that it's not just hey we go down there and we wing it you you I do have the whole thing planned out from the time we arrive until the time they get back it was more kind of prodding you to to to

133share more more of that that you're that it's that it's well planned and well thought up yeah and I'm I'm I am happy to provide that for you too if you if you want to see that we're good yeah who's got a motion I move to approve the boy overnight trip as presented second all in favor Tina hi Paul hi Erin Hi Mark hi hi you're going again thank you very much I really appreciate great time with the rest of your meeting no no it's it's supposed to be up there yeah okay thank you have a good night okay um I I have to admit that I looked at this before the last meeting that we were supposed to have so it's been a while since I've looked at the masc elect delegate and talk

134about the we have an elected delegate who's the delegate didn't we elect a delegate already for we didn't do that we did that last it's the same one so yeah I don't think it was me last year cuz I'm like no you you couldn't do it for some reason you were it last year right you weren't there last year remember I was not it no you were yeah I was I know how much fun I had May the yeah no she was the I didn't I was a backup but I did go and I remember like raising my hand for all the things that we agreed anywh who um are you going this year did she get did she get the packet and she know what we're talking about so I don't know no I'll

135explain yes so every this one you're probably better on yeah uh every year the school committee is um we have the opportunity to attend a conference where school committee members from all across the state and superintendents and assistant superintendents go and we take courses related to the jobs that we do and there's also during that time there's all the delegates from different communities get together and they vote on things um that they want to potentially change in the either the state law or in policy or something like that so we usually spend a few days at the conference there's usually a great guest speaker we take classes on things like budget and policy um it's kind of our team bonding thing um and it's coming up in November so that's what we're talking about and

136there's a series of proposed um and essentially there's a delegates assembly uh where they talk about these resolutions and vote on them as to whether as a as a whole masc which is our uh basically uh parent body for you know advocacy body asso um at the state level whether they're going to want to have these resolutions where they ask legisl legislators to do something or or things like that so they resolutions you know they're not binding in any way but they're more uh value statements of what we want the parent what the our advocacy group to do yeah I think that they're binding on the masc in terms of what it's advocating for but they're not law by the stretch they're wishful thinking sometimes right it's kind of like just the big our our

137wish statements and yeah exactly exactly so we pick a delegate a person usually we're all there it's been Mark a lot because he's also usually there working as a he's a school attorney and he's right are you working there this year or giving I will be I'm but I'm I've got number of other commitments within the program I think it's going to make it difficult for me to do this gotta I also don't I don't know when they're doing I think they're moving it yeah the schedule looked really different this year yeah they I know it didn't they were trying to do something different to get people to stick around I thought oh if we do it on Saturday morning people stick around for Saturday morning it didn't work right we're we're usually gone by

138like Friday right early Friday yeah Thursday um and this will be the first year that I don't go from all the years I've been on school committee because it's happening a few days before my daughter gets married so I I'm not I can't help sorry I got other plans that week um but so and Mark's saying it's not convenient for him so that leaves the three of you to fight it out not it no well let me let's let's let's see when it is I was just going to say I mean if we're not there clearly somebody needs to be so I'm happy if it's like Saturday morning we're not going to we don't we actually don't need to you know right it's Saturday morning I can't be there Saturday morning if if we need

139we don't need to talk about this because nobody's going to be able to go let's look it up can someone look it up real quick when yeah I mean so is it fixed let me look yeah actually the schedule's out the schedule's out okay I can probably look at you got it's not at the top of that no it's not everybody look at him when he walks in there's not there's one more meeting before the conference so I mean so we could talk why don't we you want to kick it kick it is that that okay with everybody and that will give us a chance to find out when it is if we can even go because if there's nobody that's staying then then there's no reason to talk there's no reason to right and

140sometimes these discussions can drag on for a bit soting rep hunting to the next meeting okay you okay with that doesn't impact me at all yeah you might even kick the ball away out of bounds yes okay than um all right then thats it approval of minutes from September 13th 2023 anybody so I had a thought um in the meetings it was the let me pull it up so I'm looking at it so I know what I'm talking about hold on one second sorry I need to look at it while I'm talking about it um there was we had discussed change in a policy I believe let me see let me see what page it's on what policy ke the public complaints and so I I think we just need to have an actual because

141it says we um the motion was to um approve the amended policy as presented but we don't have it as presented in the I feel like it doesn't need to be in the minutes or attached we usually don't attach the policy to the minutes like if if we had it with us at the meeting and it was attached as an exhibit at the meeting it doesn't need to reappear again in the minutes right so all you do is at the bottom it should have documents you have to you have to reference the documents used uh in the minutes so yeah that's what I'm saying it's not the it's not oh doc oh you just it it's just on this list yeah and and and then somebody can request those documents it became the document became

142public when we addressed it at the meeting okay yeah so so it needs to be retained but it doesn't need to be gotcha so that's the way it's incorporated into EXA okay I just wanted to make sure it was I didn't how that was done uh anybody have else have anything on September motion move to approve as presented second all in favor Tina hi Paul hi hereen hi Mark hi hi um warrant approvals uh I haven't done anything since the last meeting Chris because I didn't get a blur new blurb so it's just last meeting's blurb right uh between September 14th 2023 and September 27th 2023 I Paul Kendall authorized by my signature payables the amount of $1,276 366 this includes general fund expenses of $565,500 n77 and Grant expenses of $ 34,7 2584 thank

143you gifts and donations sure uh plan $24.90 miscellanous GI some donations AI $4,000 for Grants of EMS Wellness AFI again $1,800 for Grants AHS ashon K12 PTO $196 86 for the David M art program Planet Aid $36.40 Ohio pile Prince $931 uh Planet 8 again $387 80 for Miss GI donations Aid $226 52 miscellaneous get donations the administrative team um memor memorizing memorializing Chris mom we passed away a $250 donation to helping our own fund uh and then plan it eight again for $284 34 for a total of 88283 motion to approve donations so move second all in favor Tina hi Paul hi Aon hi Mark hi hi actually Mark keeps the minutes easy if the same people do if I can just quick information I did find the M I was just going to

144say Wednesday afternoon afternoon 3 3:00 till 5 5:30 typically for whatever that's worth so usually whoever is going we're there by Wednesday so it's just a matter of whether somebody wants to take that on and if you don't then we won't I mean do we just we as a group decide which ones we say yes or no to and I just raise a card like I don't have to do any give any additional input like no there there's debate on it but but I don't have to be involved in that and and usually like I definitely did not get involved in the debate I just voted the way the committee asked me to vote right I'll take one for the team I'll do it it's actually it's kind of you see all the school committee

145members from all over it doesn't go doesn't take too all that long it's not bad we're go through I was just say we can do that later yes but I'll but like Lor had some good entertaining stories about how some of those debates have gone and made it worth it right right definitely yeah so you'll be talking on Thursday night when we go out to dinner together about I can tell you all yes okay so we'll take that uh so but we'll go through the details the next time um uh we're not going to have assistant superintendent update this evening and there nothing for you to add Jim we'll go straight to member updates and what we do here Nora is usually go around the table and you're welcome to join in if there's something

146that you want to share in addition to what you shared at the beginning of the meeting you can fill us in on what's going on on at school or for you and the rest of us will do the same so is there anything else you want to share with us I don't mean to put you on the spot but I just want to give you the opportunity and you had your you guys gave a great update already the beginning of the meeting seniors are really I mean are really working hard this is like the time of year alling to college yeah the pressure is on it's very busy right now um and on top of extracurriculars ands and you know other like school work it's crazy but we're all like praying for December to Roll

147Along soon so we might turn our applications and right take a sigh of relief for a while so that's um that's basically been like the seniors um that's going on with them right now um and I know we update like homecomings this weekend really excited Spirit Week um today was um Adam standard day actually um came in with a um I just asore did you wear Bruins Jersey I do not my sister actually took the Bruins the only Bru to Jersey in the house so I had to come up with my own costume I wore like I wore this with like sweats um timling boots and I had the Boston BRS C and the golf club fun I was only like one of a few people who actually dressed up and I was very disappointed

148one of like I thought it was going to be of best days of the week but um well like wearing athletic GE counts as Adam Sandler right anybody wearing sweats in a flan wore like the baggy shorts and like bagg sweatshirts and the bre um baseball cap which and then tomorrow is Hawaiian day which is going to be no um student council is going to be handing out um the flower um yeah so um that's going to be happening tomorrow morning and that'll be fun then Friday's P rally so I know classes are cut short for the morning and then the rest of the days fine fine excellent good thank you so um since our last meeting I was able to take part in an ashack meeting and they have a a new process that

149they're going to do this year so the way that the ashack meetings go is for the first part of the meeting myself and Britney are at the meeting and then we leave and the second part of the meeting is their um members meeting for just the members um or really it's open to all parents but Britney and I leave so it's their it's their discussion uh and so what they've decided to do is to give us some takeaways from that meeting to share um so these are the takeaways from from that meeting first off it was it was a great meeting it was very well attended I think ashack um the me membership is is growing I think there are a lot of um there are parents who are very interested in being involved which

150is which is always great um so it was a it was a good discussion Britney always does a wonderful job of answering any questions I mostly listen but of course offer you know our support and um and whatnot and I'm always happy to take issues back um to the board but um you know these are their updates ashack will be finalizing their monthly Workshop schedules for the year and encourage all staff parents um to to check out their um their website and social media pages to do what we can to be involved um the first Workshop their deeming is actually on October 24th it's going to be the um the lighting the way award ceremony which are awards that are given out to um Ashlin staff um nominated by parents um for their work that

151they do with students and so um you know they wanted to make sure that we all knew about that I plan to attend obviously anybody is welcome it's a really nice event that they put together as well too um so those are the updates they wanted to share there was another one about Ashland day but of course that's outdated at this time at this point and R out right right exactly they were hoping to be there um it got not rained out right exactly unfortunately um my only other update was I was able to attend curriculum night the other night at the high school which even though I have a senior this is the first time I've ever attended uh first couple years they didn't have one because of Co and then last year was

152on the same night as a school committee meeting and I wasn't able to go so it was actually very it was the first time I have ever walked the Halls the academic Halls of the high school um so it was kind of cool it was nice to be able to to be there i' I you know I've had the opportunity to meet a number of my kids teachers but I think they did a really good job the student council was there doing a great job directing people um so it was it was well done thank you all right I'll try not to forget things so I'll do your thing first uh so if you recall uh I had brought uh a request for uh a tree and a plaque that was uh donated on behalf

153of um Karen spilka the uh dedication ceremonies tomorrow at 10: a.m. everyone is uh welcome to to attend uh so there's that uh since our last meeting I had two curricular open houses both one at the middle school and one at the high school uh did that there's something else I wanted to do before I gave the update but I'll just probably give the update first here hold on let's see share this so today was uh kind of a big day uh at M is so uh I'll this is a a broader photo but I'll I'll show you what what's happened today this is the uh the binder coat for our bus drop off Loop went in today so that uh starts the process then we can put the curbs in uh do start doing

154the sidewalks uh in preparation for uh finish Paving in a few weeks so that's from that perspective this is the uh the rubber surface started going down today on our playground which is uh something the kids have been excitedly uh you worried about getting this in with the weather getting C right so they just started today the if you look at the forecast for the next week or two it looks like we're we're good as far as temperatures overnight temperatures so they are scheduled to take about four or five days to to uh to get this down and um and then to go back to the broader broader one so this is from the roof uh you'll see that all the the uh the other area this is all Crush Stone so all prepped for

155it and this is where the um where that is where is my controls here hold on get rid of this so I can actually get to the top here so if I come in you know this is they're laying that down but also that was paved is this is the basketball court over here on the side so so just to give you an idea of what this looks like from from an overall site uh this is the bus bus Loop the Bus Loop over there and then this will be the ways uh that you'll you'll get to there so there'll be sidewalks along there ballards and uh and and and those things when when do they anticipate being able to use the Bus Loop so I believe uh this whole area we're looking to have

156kids on the playground I assume the the Bus Loop around the same time by Thanksgiving uh so that this is this is the most impactful thing right now uh is the playground because right now the kids are having the recess uh in the Outdoor Classroom area to uh to the east uh kind of over where U the tree is and the Ken tree is and everything so which also meant we couldn't recede uh over there so it's now it's it's it's going to be need to be receded in the in the spring um so and I believe I'm forgetting uh something else I was going to say we can come back to you if it pops into your head before the meeting's open oh uh no I I remember now so yesterday I met with

157Joel ibight and and Tony Lewis uh we walked the uh this is relative to the trails your new job on that commun thank you very much uh so I I walked over over as both Lori and I live behind the high school so I walked over met with them and kind of just walked where they were trying to get to so their their current route kind of comes up uh from behind where they're looking to see how they can come up there talking about it either along the edge of the cemetery or through the woods or trying to come up somewhere there uh I showed them a an exist pre-exist existing trail that is uh above the fields kind of in the middle of the woods there that's that's pre-existing they didn't know about uh

158that that's back there so I kind of you know try to steer them that direction because I think that's better than trying to hug and because there's a lot of challenges to hug closer to the the fields it's an existing Trail uh things like that uh and then walked all the way down towards uh uh Cedar where they the the paths so there's a in our in our uh neighborhood there's a easement where the power lines cut through across Cedar uh and come up across Grover and then over to East Union and so that's one of the routes that um the trail is supposed to take I also talked to them about a Spur to give access to our neighborhood that would come up on catar because that is currently where the kids in our

159neighborhood they do walk to school and they go uh through through the woods uh at cerat so to do that talk with them about the paths there's a if you've been back there the biggest challenge to their path is there is a large uh Rock uh you know domed rock feature that that that kind of goes basically from catar to the fields and so it's really not uh so the only way to do that is to kind of cut uh closer to the property the properties on catat so there's two two houses uh on catat there so talk to them about and they're very uh eager to talk to those those neighbors and see what can you know their concerns would be and how to mitigate that whether it's a stockade privacy fence or what

160whatever those things are so just beginning conversations around that um is there space to put the trail before you get on the private property and just how close does it get or yeah yeah yeah so so I I I first F and the first thing you need to do is get everything surveyed and staked so we know what we're talking about um we know who owns what and and and and and those things but uh we just kind of it's really really preliminary to walk it to they're looking to for us to be able to understand and and say hey what this looks like is is is is okay with us uh I I I told them I obviously can't speak for the group as a whole but from what you know what we talked

161about I'm assuming the group group would be supportive of you know very clear we're not I don't want them bisecting the property where there's um so if you talk down by the the baseball field if you if you were able to come down there there's the uh currently asphalt sidewalk if you will that goes along there and I talked to them about we would need that to be segregated so even if it's right next to that some kind of fencing to say hey this is the bike path this is it so we're not mixing there's not a lot of space there before you go down into the ditch I think well and and even if it's there's a there's a little Hill there so even if you cut into the hill a little bit to

162make the that that there's that we we aren't mixing those traffics right because we don't want somebody to so and they're all amenable to to all those things so uh they talked about hey putting something on paper and wanting us to say hey this looks good so they can start to do those things uh I said let's let's look at more holistically because as you there there was some concerns brought up by people about uh going on or right next to the cemetery as well uh I I I kind of encourage them to have dialogues and I can help have have conversation just because somebody raised a concern it shouldn't be a a blocker necessarily what are the concerns are there ways to mitigate it and how many other things have you looked at so

163you can say hey here's the value proposition um and if it's I know there's been concerns around when people have gone through and used the cemetery for whatever that there's been damage or things that have been so how can you mitigate that is it is it fenced the whole way you know so U trying to encourage them if that's the best route let's articulate that let's have the conversations with with whoever needs to have those conversations because just because somebody raised a concern um you should conflate that to mean that the town as a whole or a large group has concern but also address those so uh very informal but good meeting with with uh with them I also talked to them about really if they can start to take little sections and then as

164they get funding complete little sections because that's going to give them more credibility and talking to uh groups whether it be in town or other towns to say hey we are doing these things things and and so even that's if that's the sections that link up cerit and along the the easement there that provide access both for our neighborhood both and then for um Captain Ames and and all those other places I think those are valuable little sections of their trail that doesn't need to connect other things but it's connecting the high school to um to the community so uh so so had that meeting with them yesterday and I I can't think there's there's a few other things I was going to I can't I can't remember them thank you right um yeah so

165I went to the uh curriculum night I guess at the high school which you first time having a freshman and um it was really wonderful to meet all the teachers you know you You' been just hearing about them for a month but not really putting a name with a face or um understanding their style um and so that it was really informative and also being able to walk the building in a way like Tina that I haven't walk the building like that either um so that was really good and I've also been attending um some sporting events related to the middle school and high school that um my kids are not a part of and so just getting to see um so yesterday I was at the middle school field hockey game um and then

166learning that now our town finally has a youth field hockey program that we've never had before and so a kada eight program essentially mimicking like ashleen Youth Soccer Ashley Youth Lacrosse so we will have you know a stronger Middle School uh field hockey team in the future um and then the only other thing was Mike do we have um for Safety Committee do we have a date for not not yet okay thank you yep I don't have anything um other than just to say that the first first um High School site council meeting has been set for the 25th of October um I just emailed to Kelly about that over the weekend and so we'll start having those those updates um I forget exactly how that falls on the calendar but either our next meeting

167is one after that excellent I did not go to curriculum night I know we were had meeting my wife was there I was just going to say I saw your wife though yeah I'll be doing Warren U School site counsil I connected with Pete so I think the first meeting will be early next month um so I haven't attended anything there yet um I did want to um shout out um coach McKay and the members of the football team that helped with the pumpkins at the Federated church I think we all got that email we got a nice email um from Mike Connor saying um there was a call out for help and the boys showed up um with their coach and it was very much appreciated and everybody was very helpful and respectful and

168um the email specifically stated you know even in light of the no longer requirement of for community service that these requests are still being honored and that the kids are showing up very happily and um everybody's happy so shout out thank you football kids and their coach we appreciate uh your service to our community anybody else same same same so that's it oh Mark I'm I'm gonna action items on there I don't know if there there's we ask we do have action items and this is just an opportunity for any of you to let us know if there's something that you want to have on a future agenda as a list of I mean we do have our calendar of things that eventually we're going to have the um School Improvement plans coming forward uh

169we're going to finish up these goal discussions we're going to finish up uh anything that's left to do with the Strategic plan so we have a calendar of things as that we will address but if there's something that you want to add or that you think that we're missing um you can either let us know at these meetings so we can add them to action items or you can send me an email and I'm going to recuse myself for the next part um Mark's going to be moving the committee into executive session um I won't be participating I do have family members on the bargaining couple of the bargaining units so I've got to recuse myself from any discussions this year on that and turn over um my job on the negotiating team to Tina

170and Mark so thank you guys you can make your motion and I'm going to say good night to everybody good night thanks laor so I will move to enter executive session under General Law chapter 3A section 2183 to conduct strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the bo of the public body and the chair so declares and we will be U this motion would relate to the Ashen Educators Association teachers contract the Ashen nurses contract Unit B which is educational support Personnel um Ashen secretary's contract and the Ashen custodians and maintenance contract not to return to open session is there a second than second okay roll roll call vote for executive session Tina hi Paul hi Ain I

171and I for me we are uh going into executive session yeah 8:09 start time start what was