Dartmouth School Committee Meeting, November 10, 2025

001Hey, hey, hey. Happy [music] back. [music] Heat. Heat. N. >> [music] >> Heat. Heat. N. >> [music] [music] >> Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Hey, Heat. >> [music] >> Happy.com. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Come in. >> I call to order the school committee meeting of November 10th, 2025. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance and remain standing afterwards. I pledge allegiance to [clears throat] the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> And may we now take a moment of a silence to honor Ann Cavllo, uh, a student in our high school who sadly died in a car accident a week and a half ago. Thank you. >> Roll call, please. Miss Gunther, >> John Nunes,

002>> here. >> Kathleen Emerald, >> here. >> Chris Oliver, >> here. >> Mary Beckwith, >> here. >> Best Coughlin >> here. Um, this meeting is being recorded [clears throat] and it will be rebroadcast on DCTV and can be streamed on their YouTube channel at any time. Um, Dr. Sam McGuire, do you have some comments? >> Thank you, Chair Coughlin. So, we wanted to take a moment before the start of the meeting um to acknowledge the tragic loss in our school community. Um it really was um something that I would say had huge impact on the school community and by all accounts our student de Cavarlo was a dedicated learner. She was very well-liked. She was deeply respected by both her classmates and her teachers. Um, we also want to take a moment to recognize the

003remarkable response of our high school faculty and staff, not only here at the high school, but really across the district for folks including our adjustment counselors, uh, Mrs. Denisio, our principal, again, our administrative staff here at the high school who really came together to support not only our students, staff, faculty, but really each other. And I think that from organizing spaces um you know I thank Katie Mallaloy who was able to provide uh some refreshments here and use this library really as a place of healing for folks to come together and to experience uh what it was really truly a tragic loss for our school community and but that's what we're about right embodying a caring community but on the be behalf of the school district the school department we do want to extend our

004heartfelt condolences to Ann's family and to her friends and to everyone in the community who are grieving her loss and we will support each other through this loss and that really is what we do when we come together as part of one Dartmouth. So I just want to acknowledge all the folks that were involved and will continue to be involved in the support of Ann her family friends in this school community. So, thank you. >> Thank you for that. >> Thank you. >> Um, we now welcome public comment from the audience on any topic on this evening's agenda. We have allowed 10 minutes for this. Please approach the mic. State your name and keep your comments brief. >> Good evening. Uh, Nathan Silva. Um, I'm speaking on behalf of myself, which I think is a

005disclaimer I'm supposed to make these days. Um, but as we're entering into budgeting season, I wanted to come in and sort of give you the heads up of what I'm going to be advocating for this year. Uh the message is pretty simple. Um please ask for what you need. Um do not negotiate against yourselves and do not settle for less. And I get it. We're one Dartmouth and there's one pot of money that the whole community needs to share. But my perception is that the school's willingness to play nicely um has been taken advantage of uh in recent history. And nowhere is that more evident than when we look at the departmental budget growth uh over the past 5 years where the school's budget has increased by about 20% whereas many many other departments have

006increased by 30 40 50 60 even 70% in more than one instance. That to me is not one Darmouth. Right now I'm glad to hear that we have uh improved relationships between the schools and the new town administration. Um that's good and I encourage that to continue. Um but I don't want to lose sight of what has happened in the past. Uh so please ask for what you need uh to truly maintain level services bearing in mind that level services this year is a significant reduction in services from just a couple years ago. Um and I know I'm coming up on my two minutes, but if you'd indulge me for one more, I'd like to share a quick story from the springtime if that's okay. Um, so in the spring when I was preparing the

007amendment that I offered at town meeting, I thought it would be a good idea to give a heads up to a couple of the departments that would be mostly affected by the budget modifications I was proposing, namely the police department and DPW. So I had a meeting with the police chief and with uh Mr. Barber uh to sort of give them the heads up of what I was planning. I didn't want to blindside them. I wanted them to have time to prepare their thoughts and their response to what I was about to do um and have plenty of time to do so. So, we had a cordial conversation. Um, they didn't necessarily agree with what I was proposing, but I think they at least understood where I was coming from. Um, but at the end

008of one of those conversations, um, he looked at me and said, you know, I'm going to be fighting for my budget. And I said, I know that, and you wouldn't be doing your job if you didn't, and I expect you to. My expectation of this group, this committee is the same, right? Fight for your budget. fight for our children's budget. Um there is a lot of support, I think more support than I think we previously might have known um for the schools in this town and and we're behind you in that fight. Um so please uh do fight for our budget because if if we're not doing it, I I'm not sure who's going to. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good evening everyone. I'm Robin DeFente. I have three kids at Dartmouth Middle School.

009I've come before you many times and I will mimic a lot of what Nate has to say, but I wanted to just remind you all that you have parent support. We want you to fight for what you need and we want to be here to show you that support. Get in front of them. Spell it out. It's It's too important. We can't keep losing our teachers. We're not going to get new teachers in if we don't have fair packages to offer. We we really need to just lay down the budget that you need to operate and to maintain so our students aren't suffering for it. Thank you for your time as always. Thank you. And I believe there's nobody else interested in talking. Thank you. Um, we move to approval of the minutes, regular and

010executive minutes for October 27th, 2025. >> So moved on the regular. >> Second. >> We have a motion by Mr. Oliver, second by Mr. Nunes. All in favor? I >> I. >> All opposed. It's unanimously passing. >> And for the executive. >> So move, Madam Chair, with the stipulation that they be held until the matter for which they were intended is complete. >> Second. Motion by Mr. Nunees, second by Miss Beckwith. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Another unanimous vote in favor. Um, and now we welcome our student representative report from Andrew Manise. >> Yes. So, thank you for having to uh having me tonight and I'm going to be talking about a couple of things that we have going on around the school. Um, we have a very exciting month on tap

011uh as you know. Uh, so we recently held our blood drive on October 28th which was a huge huge success. Uh we had many students and staff participating. Um we had our young athletes day on Wednesday, no November 5th and this was the second annual of that event. Uh and that brought in kids from Kushman to um collaborate with our preschoolers uh to collaborate with our unified basketball and unified PE classes. Um and then upcoming we have homecoming and the superlative dance uh which is on November 15th. Everyone's very excited for that. Um, we have spirit week. Um, and we also have the annual key club food drive as well as the pep rally, which is probably everyone's favorite uh event of the year. Um, and then our fall sports and activities. All of our

012athletic teams made the playoffs, which was very exciting. Um, our boys soccer is still in the tournament, which they're making their uh deepest playoff runs since 2017. And over the weekend, our marching band competed uh to earn a broad a bronze medal at uh Metife Stadium for the US band's national championships. Um and the student advisory committee uh is very excited because we're in the process of putting together a uh student experience report which we hope at some point to uh present to all of you as well as the um administration. So yeah, there's busy month, a lot lot going on. >> Terrific. Good. Well, thank you very much. Um, you're welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting, but if you have homework or sleep to catch up on, uh, you're welcome to

013leave. >> Just stay one minute. >> Um, >> people are coming up >> and, um, if it's okay, we're going to take part of the superintendent's update out of order right now. Fine. >> That's why I said maybe Andrew would want to stay since it's the perfect segue into um, we're going to invite U. Marielle and Alex up to talk about the band competition this past weekend because I know that we really want to highlight and celebrate what um the band accomplished this weekend. So, please come on up. So, what we have for you here is our official bronze medal third place trophy as well as our high color guard and high percussion trophies. What these mean is that uh we had the best color guard and best percussion sections in our um our division.

014So, we are incredibly proud. We're coming to you tonight with uh the most the absolute most pride and gratitude for our students. They they performed their hearts out and it was such a pleasure to get to watch them show off all of the hard work that they did this season. Um especially Andrew. [laughter] >> That's why I wanted you to stay, Andrew, so you could hear that. >> Um it was nice to hear you talk about us like that. Thank you, Andrew. Um yeah, so we started off with a busy weekend. We left the high school at 2 am Saturday morning. So, uh, we drove down to New Jersey. We got to Metife Stadium around 5:30 and we performed at 8 a.m. We were very proud to be the first band on to kind of

015set the tone of the day. Um, after that, we headed back on the bus to uh, uh, Ellis Island and we went to see the Statue of Liberty, which was an incredible experience. It was the most perfect day. The sun was shining, the temperature was great. It was straight out of a movie. And then uh we finished off our day by heading to Dave and Busters for a little bit of team building, team bonding, one last chance to uh to see each other and hang out with each other as a band for the season. Um then the next morning we where did we go after that? >> Uh in the morning we went to uh >> went to Time Square. >> Oh, Time Square. That's right. We had a little bit of time to explore

016the city. Uh the students were able to choose where they wanted to eat and got to hang out with their chaperon groups. And then we finished our day by seeing um the Harry Potter play which was incredible and a lesson in the performing arts. So uh it was an incredible trip and we just want to express our gratitude for you all for making this happen for us and for supporting us along the way and for our wonderful students and and giving us a platform to work with such incredible young minds. So thank you all. >> Great. >> Thank you. >> Good work to you. Good work to all of the students. >> Thank you. >> We're very proud of you. >> Thank you. Um, next up we have some presentations. >> We do. >> So,

017I think that district strategic plan monitoring update is first. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, let me see. >> You can change that if you want, but >> not doing anything. >> Perhaps I could have some technical >> on his way. [laughter] Technical support, please. [clears throat] >> Who's got the remote? >> Thank you. So, um, thank you, Chair Coughlin. Uh so as we always do when whenever we talk about the district strategic plan, we like to start off by just grounding us in the mission, the vision, the strategic focus areas, and what our core values are. Um, as I've said, and I know it's um I know that I'm a broken record, but each one of these components of our strategic plan are truly critical in keeping this plan. Not only it's it's not a

018plan, it's it's actually what's happening out in our schools. I've had the opportunity now to meet with two of our PTOs, both the middle school and the high school, and also with the middle school faculty to give them updates as to where we are. So this is my first time having the opportunity to do that publicly and with the committee. But we've started each one of our uh presentations by grounding us in exactly where we are and how we came to the point where we have a five-year plan. Of course, we're in the second year of that plan. Um and you remember the phases that we went through in order to come together to produce a comprehensive strategic plan that we feel is every that uh every uh member of the school community can have

019um some ownership of or does have ownership of. One of the things that we committed to doing with the committee and with the public and with our faculty and with our families is that we would provide on a regular basis a strategic plan monitoring update. And so here is the uh again colorcoded um you'll see example of how we've started to construct uh means of reporting out to the public and to the committee where we are in pro in the implementation of our plan. Uh, one of the things that we did over the summer, both as a central office leadership team, as a principal leadership team, and as a district leadership team, is we made sure that we spent time going through our district strategic plan and starting to put together really a formal process

020for reporting it out publicly. And so, this is a start for us. And we just want you to recognize that and know that we will be updating and um I think we we'll be refining this process as we continue to find ways to improve the way that we're reporting out. And so what you'll see here is it's pretty basic, not yet started um in process and implementing. And you'll see that throughout uh each one of the focus areas. So, as you know, focus area one is teaching and learning. You know, this is the one that we spend a lot of time talking about here and presenting on. You'll hear an MCCAST update presentation just this evening that will connect to this district strategic plan. And one of the ways that we're reporting out what our

021progress is to date. So what you see is there are our uh our highlevel initiatives teaching teaching and learning one uh teaching and learning two teaching learning three and what you see on the opposite side of that um slide is the key action steps that have been taken to date. And so here we have developed a curriculum development cycle and that has been established. It is ongoing. you're never done with your curriculum development cycle. And that's why having a cycle is so important because as we've said in the past, we don't want to find ourselves in a position where we're looking at every uh content and uh subject area across the district at the same time and trying to replace resources with high quality instructional materials which is the next bullet where I said where

022we say that we're in various stages of horizontal and vertical alignment. Examples of that again, Somos, which is the world language program here at the high school. Open SIED, the work that's being done at the middle school, CKLA, which I know you've heard quite a bit about and will continue to throughout the course of the year, and we're working on Carnegie Math here at the high school as well. Uh, so as far as professional development is concerned, really important. You've heard us talk about this. You heard Katie and Ross talk about this just a couple of uh weeks ago in giving you an overview of where we are in connecting our professional development. Not only the committee but the committee's work is about conduct connecting the professional development to the actual work that we're asking

023our faculty members to be out in their class in our classrooms in other places and spaces and schools. And so, how are we supporting them in order to be able to do that effectively? And one thing that we recognize that we're not always perfect. I just want to remind folks that we are a human business. And so, you know, we have trials and errors. We we try things. We try them in good faith and then we listen to each other and we refine processes along the way. with the PD committee. I think one of the things that we heard from the field was, "Oh, we're really missing um having the what they called before me strands in uh professional development for part of the school year." And so that's something through the uh the professional

024development committee that and through surveys surveys that we conducted through the district that we established as a priority. So we we will be uh re uh we're just reinstituting re-implementing that for this year. And the other thing and I know you heard this but I'll continue again the broken record that I believe in is there is a professional learning time plan that has been developed at every school and at the district level and it's a basically a year at a glance. Again I remind people that we're not we're not a static organization. There are things that come up throughout the course of the year where we may need to make adjustments based on something that I mean that could come out through the state at any given moment that uh we see as being a

025glaring need in the district. And that's where you have to be flexible and ready to sometimes the um to pivot and and maybe go in a different direction. But the point is that we have consistency and that our professional development is connected to the work that we're doing in our schools. Uh prek program has been redesigned. As I said, you've heard Miss Denisio, Mrs. Redlon talk about this. you uh we we know that there are speed bumps along the way, but at the same time, one of the things that we are seeing is that those decisions that you helped us make that you supported us are starting to really take shape in a way that are having positive impact on our most fragile and newest learners to our school district. Uh, so the professional learning

026plans, I bring them up again because I don't think there's anything really more important that we do in education than provide our faculty and staff with professional learning in a way that is clearly connected to the implementation of a new curriculum. For example, just this past week, and I was going to talk about this in my superintendent update, so I'll try not to repeat myself when I get there. Um but we had a uh consultant professional learning consultant from Amplify which is the vendor that uh produces uh CKLA in the district. So not just providing professional development from afar but in the district in schools in classrooms working alongside listening to teachers listening to faculty at the school level to see uh and to hear where we're finding success and where we're still finding challenges

027and helping us to address that along the way. So you see in the green box that we have 13 action steps identified, two implemented, six in process and five not yet started. And I would remind you and me because when I get anxiety and say not yet started, I get a little anxiety about that. And I have to remind myself and our team and the district that this is a five-year plan, not a one or a two-year plan. And it's not meant to all be done at once. Because what happens then is you get something that we're all familiar with in our field and that's [clears throat] called initiative overload and you have to be really careful to protect yourself from that. Um under focus area two safe and supportive schools again we talk about

028this at every committee meeting but you see that we have a focus around building the capacity of students and staff and support social emotional wellness. We recognize that that is something that has to be ongoing. We've introduced a new so I'll take that initiative and connect it to a key action step which is around wayfinder the seal curriculum that's being embedded into the DHS advisory program. Uh but at the same time we recognize that the there are um increasing needs of our students and one of the ways the committee supported us in um thinking about strategically about that in the at the district level was helping to provide us with the funding to bring in a position or if you remember that position now we've had it in the district for I think a year

029and a half and that is a person who was out supporting ing the social emotional learning of some of our um what we're finding uh high need students who not only do our students need some extra support but our teachers do as well. Um so that's work that we appreciate the committee is has done and supported us on and those are things that we'll be talking about as we enter into the budget cycle. um enhancing a sense of pride and culture that embrace one Dartmouth. You see, we we've made intentional efforts to do that. We've done that through we've introduced a Compass newsletter at the district level. the Green Apple Award has been established. And those those are um those are those are important ways for us to communicate not only our appreciation for our

030staff, faculty, the work that goes on here, but it's it's a way for us in in some ways. I don't mean to say that it's simple, but it is sometimes it's the the little things that we do that recognize folks that can really make a difference in supporting sometimes, you know, the hard work that goes on. Professional development is always there, focusing on culturally and intellectually um affirming practices. We do that with Lynch Leadership Academy and that's work that we're doing on an ongoing basis with our district leadership team. You've heard uh just last at the last meeting, Mrs. Redlon updated you as to where we are with district and schoolbased crisis management teams and and again I I will bring that back to the crisis that we just had at the high school where

031we did suffer. You know, it was it was a very significant event that that happened over a weekend and people knew what to do. We were mobilized. People knew who to call. Those are the kinds of systems that you have to have in place in order to best support your school community when unfortunately and sadly things do happen. And how are we equipped to be able to support people as as in our mostly you know our kids, staff, faculty as they return to school on Monday morning. Um so district comprehensive emergency management again those are all things that you've heard about but you see where are we in process 11 action steps four implemented six in process one not yet started. Um focus area three family and community engagement has been something that's really important

032to us. We are always striving to find different ways to connect with our families. Our schools do a really good job with this. They truly do. the individual schools and the way that they connect and open their doors to families and community and the way that our teachers reach out on a consistent basis is something I think to be commended. At the same time, at the district level, how are we doing that? One of the re ways that that I'm doing that as a superintendent is going out to PTO meetings. It's one way for me to go to them. Um, another way is through just offering some just like um low stress kind of opportunities to meet with families. I find out a lot about what's going on in the community by going to football

033games, by going to band performances, by sitting in the stands at a volleyball game or at a soccer game. And and I don't mean that people the folks in the community approach me to complain because that's not what happens. It's more a matter of just having a conversation and hearing what people are thinking about in an informal way. So, we will continue to focus on building relationships with families. I do want to commend again Jonathan and his team and the technology folks across the district who I think are utilizing Parent Square more effectively as as we've gotten more comfortable with its use. And I think we updated you on that last week or at the last meeting, but just to keep it front and center as something that we think has been really important around

034focus area for budget and capital improvements. I mean, our two uh hearing of the visitors folks are talking about this, right? So, that's one way I think you can see that we've lifted our strategic plan in a really public way. I so appreciate the families that have taken an active role in participating in town meeting and all that goes along with that and coming here and speaking at school committee and being part of PTO's but communicating and advocating for the instructional operational needs of the district. That's what they just asked us to do. That is what we do on an ongoing basis. That's part of why we have a strategic plan so we can very clearly articulate to the community what it is that we need as a district to be successful with our students.

035Um communicating and activate and and advocating for facility. You see some of the key action steps the district-wide operating budget developed approved by school committee and town meeting and implemented. And we are very grateful for those relationships that that Mr. Silva mentioned earlier and we're going to continue to work on them. We have Mr. Kylie involved in the long range capital planning uh team and there is a 50-year plan in place and that is that sounds so long off but if you don't have a plan and we've said that if you don't have any goals how are you going to get there? If you don't have a plan in place then nothing is going to move forward. So, I appreciate that. That might seem long, so long range that people maybe can't um get their

036minds around it, but it is important to have it and to keep it at the forefront of the work. Same thing with the 10-year plan developed, approved by this committee. Uh you've heard us talk about HVAC upgrades, the DHS auditorium upgrades have happened. So again, back to the action steps eight, we we're really in the the thing is about this, we've made a lot of progress. We've put everything in motion. Um, so now it's about seeing things through and making sure that they do actually happen. I just remind people that there was a there really truly was a large group of folks that were involved in the development of this strategic plan. And although there are uh might seem like a small number here, it's really a great cross-section of the entire school community. Whether

037it's that you're represented as an educator, as a staff member, as a community member, as a student of the student that we had here tonight, Andrew Monise, was on this team and he definitely used his voice. Uh so a finance committee, we had select board, we really did strive to make sure that we had representation and that work I think was really important in helping us to successfully launch the strategic plan. And so that is our update and I'll have a couple things more for you when I do my superintendent update. But this is sort of a high I think a high level update as to where we are in meeting the goals of our plan. >> Thank you. I'm impressed with how much has gotten done. >> Thank you. >> We have to remind

038ourselves that we have done it >> and I like that a lot is in process. Um any questions from anyone? >> No. for your presentation. >> Great presentation. Thank you. >> A lot done in a short period of time if you think about it. >> Yes. Much left to do. >> Oh yeah. >> Always. >> Could I just ask how often we'll get this type of update? Do you think? >> We haven't really planned that out, but as often as as you like. If >> we should do it strategically because what you're going to hear me [clears throat] talk about in our superintendent update is really this, right? in smaller pieces to keep you sort of updated on an ongoing basis, but this gives you more of a global view of where we are. So,

039we could do it as many times as as the committee wishes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. Thank you. And um now we're going to have a review of the district MCCAST results. >> Yes. Mrs. Pavo is going to come up and give us an overall um report of the district MCCAST results. We did, Mrs. Pavo, we did get another invitation to join >> Yes, I know >> the commissioners. >> That's exciting. >> team to present about um some of the strategies we use to return to prepandemic levels in math for grades three through eight. >> On my last slide. >> Very good. >> Excellent. We'll talk a little bit more about that. Good evening everybody. Um so as Dr. Sab Magcguire alluded to before, all of our work is grounded in the strategic plan.

040And so uh this is no exception to that. Um we're going to talk tonight really in and zero in on the teaching and learning um bucket as that's where I spend the most of my time. Um but looking at that vertical and horizontal alignment of curriculum is the curriculum is going to drive how our students are performing, right? And we have two action steps in there around identifying sources of data to look at our student achievement and um creating that data dashboard and certainly our MCCAST scores are a key source of data that we look at when we're talking about student achievement. So um again this is a highlevel uh overview and so this is old news for the five of you but for maybe some folks who are riveting riveted and watching from home

041um we talk about what MCCAST is. remembering um that it is the Massachusetts comprehensive assessment system. It has been around in response since the um ed reform in the late 90s um and it is a requirement that we assess our students in grades three through eight in ELA in math and our students um in five and eight in math and our students in grade 10 are still assessing and I'll talk a little bit more about that. um our MCCAST really our kids fall into one of four categories whether they are exceeding the standard, meeting the standard, progressing toward the standard, partially meeting the standard or um not meeting the standard. And so why does it matter? Why are we doing this standardized testing? It is um a snapshot in time of how our students are

042doing. And yes, it is a snapshot and yes, it is one assessment, but it's an assessment that looks at the standards overall. Um and it gives us a good idea of some areas of strength for our students and some areas where we still have um some work to do and also um in the secondary level and I'm going to say this is Dr. Tibo's area of forte. So, I'm going to do my very best to talk about some of the secondary stuff tonight, but um it is still used to um um lead to reduce scholarship reduce college costs and um scholarship opportunities for students. So, what's new? There are really three big things um with the spring assessment that I want to talk to you about tonight. So, if we think back to just about

043a year ago, right now in November of 2024, question two repealed the MCCAST as a graduation requirement. And so, um, the to think that that didn't have impact, um, would just not be accurate. And I'll talk a little bit more at the high school level specifically about how the impact was seen through some of our students. Um, but it is no longer a requirement to graduate, but we still assess our students in grade 10. Um there was an emphasis this year on returning to prepandemic levels. And so the last year of what they consider to be prepandemic um data is the year 2019. So you'll hear a lot of comparison data between 2025 and 2019 and how our students are doing. And then um at grade 8, this was the first year that we administered

044the civics assessment to our grade eight students across the Commonwealth. And so we'll take a look at that as well. Um this sort of shows the timeline over those six years right since that pre- pandemic time. Obviously in 2019 was the last what we'll call normal um administration of MCCAST before things really started to shift. In 2020 schools were closed obviously and MCCAST was not administered to any students. In 2021 uh testing was resumed but in a in a hybrid model. students took one session as opposed to the two at the elementary level and similarly at the middle school and high school. um it was it was administered in the full in its full um form at the high school because at that point it still was a graduation requirement and then in 2022 full

045MCCAST administration resumed. Um in 2023, I think the state was very hopeful that we were sort of putting this whole global pandemic behind us. And then um what we learned very quickly was that this is as we were looking at some of our youngest learners impacted entering our testing grades that we really had a long way to go. Um and the same was true last year that we are continuing to feel the effects of CO 19 or not back quite yet to where we were before that. Um, and as you heard me say, we're really start starting to look now at how we are in 2025 and compared to 2019. So, I'm going to first talk about the state at a higher level. Um, and while I know it's um, tempting to jump right into

046Dartmouth, I think we have to really start at the state level and get an idea of how our um, how our state is doing as a as a whole and then we can look at our district and start to think about um, how we do comparatively. So, um, this is a chart we've seen before. We really try to kind of keep things consistent in the way that we're um, giving our data. And so, it's a way to teach people how to look at it. and then you know um update it with the the most recent information. So as you heard me say before uh there are four categories of achievement for our students exceeding meeting partially meeting or not meeting. We really want to narrow in on the meeting and exceeding columns obviously is where

047we want our students to be. Um there's an average scale score at that last column and the second column from the right is the average SGP. The state SGP is 50 because that's what sets the SGP for the rest of the state. And just as a reminder, student growth percentile is a way to look at how students who are performing similarly on one test do the next year. So the state will take students who performed in a similar level, an achievement level, and group those students together and then say compared to those other students in that bucket with you, how did you grow? So it's an important number for some of our students um because even if they're high achieving, we want them to continue to grow. And for some of our students who are

048struggling students who might not be making the achievement level that we would like them to, they're showing a lot of growth. And so it's important to pay attention both to our achievement and to our growth. Um the trends across the Commonwealth are that uh ELA scores remained relatively flat. Uh the state s did see some gains in grades three through eight and the sharpest incline in grade seven from last year to this year. They had a six-point growth in the um average score for grade seven, but all grade levels remain behind that pre- pandemic level in 2019. In math, again, our scores were relatively flat across the state u compared to 2024 results. And again, all grade levels remain behind where they were in 2019. Um in science and technology, again, there were some mixed

049results. Actually, grade five at the state level saw some mild improvement. um while grade like grades eight and 10 saw a mile drop. And I'll pause here and talk about um some of the impact of that question too that we mentioned. So um when the state was releasing this information, they were clear to say that um you know our students in grade 10 have always had quite the motivation to perform um as it was a graduation requirement. And while um I think our kids in grades 3 through 8 have always done a really good job of understanding the importance of MCCAST and we um help them to understand that it helps us to help them. Right? I've I always told my kids as a student when I was a teacher that this is really a

050a look at our teachers and at our teaching and at our learning and so how we can best help support you. Um I think we need to start doing a good job of helping our 10th graders to understand that even without this as a requirement, it's still a really important test. And so across the Commonwealth, um we're going to start trying to really be able to spread that message because without that requirement across the state, um there was a a pretty sharp decline in um grade 10. And so um they saw the highest number of blank questions, students who just sort of clicked through. Um and so we had to just do we have to do our due diligence of building that same sort of um understanding and and be that as it may, our

051students still did pretty well, right? And so we'll get into our into how our students did, but um just build that same level of understanding and commitment in our students um in grade 10 that our students have all the way through. And so uh when we look at Dartmouth public schools, this is the same chart with our kids here in Dartmouth. And you'll see that um in our students in grades three through eight um you know we are at 51% of our students meeting or exceeding the standard in ELA. Um and while we'd like to be above that half threshold obviously it's a number that we would like to see increase. Um and so we will continue to do some of that work. Um all of our students in grades three through eight three through

052eight are above the state standard. Right? So, where the state where I just showed you on the previous slide where our state is, our students are performing at or higher than the state across um all areas in in ELA. Um in 3 through 8, it's 51% as opposed to 41 at the state. And in grade 10, it's still at 62% as opposed to 51 at the state. In math, um I'm going to flip forward here. Our students who are meeting are exceeding again to or above the state. 54% of our students as opposed to 41. And um again our 10 our grade 10 students are above the state 52% versus 45. Science um is an area that we continue to look at um when we start talking a little bit about our high quality instructional

053materials. Right? This is an area that we are looking into in the elementary levels. we have our open sED at the middle school and so we are excited to see some of the impact um that that will have on our future students knowing that we always feel a little bit of that implementation dip when we bring something new in. Um but our grade five students are continue to be above the state 55% over to versus 46. Um we are a little bit below the state in grade 8 and our high school students are above the state 46 versus 42. So, one area that we also like to take a look at is our students um who are considered high needs. And so, as a reminder um to be in that high needs category are our

054students who are um lowincome English language learners stu or students with disabilities. Any and or all of those categories um lump you into that category of students that are considered high needs. And so um you know it's of an importance to us because we have a lot of students in that category and I think sometimes we um don't realize the number of students and so that last column will give you the number of students um in our in that category in our high needs group um and you know I think we are outperforming the high needs groups across the state. It is an area that when we talk about growth and when we talk about um continuing to want to see our students succeed um we will continue to push the number of students meeting

055and exceeding. Um but we are um we are exceedingly proud of our commitment to working with students and I'm going to come back right to that um part of our strategic plan when we talk about um you know teaching and learning but also safe and supportive schools. So these two areas speak to the importance of meeting student the needs of all students and not just by supporting our students but by supporting our educators in developing and implementing best practices and tiered systems of support for our students. Um so these are our sort of high needs trends as you see um our number of students are exceeding the state in ELA and in math and in science. So, this is where I'm going to talk about grade eight, but I'm going to ask for your patience.

056Um, so the new civics assessment. So, uh, the civics assessment is a direct outcome of the state's 2018 act to promote enhanced civic engagement in students. It places a high value on civic reasoning. And so, um, it has two components. The assessment has really just two components. It has an end of course test is what it's called where it covers the breadth of the standards this grade 8 civic standards and then it has a performance task component where it takes where zeros in on one of those specific topics um and students must students do some reading of primary and secondary sources. They analyze them and then they have to write a constructed response that explains the civics concepts and support that. And so what I do in my world is look at where our students

057need to be and I think about how we at the elementary level can support that work. And so um recently we went to the MASQ um conference and I went to a really great breakout um about civics and STEM in the elementary level. Um, and so we're starting to look at some of those resources. And so because the reality is just because this is a a assessed thing in eighth grade, the responsibility does not live in eighth grade, right? So all of these things that we do, all of our MCCAST assessments really are things that we start thinking about when our kids enter school, not in the form of thinking of it through a test, the lens of a test, thinking of it as it's an assessment that reflects the standards. And so we need

058to make sure it's incumbent on us to make sure that our instruction and our instructional tools are reflective of the standards. And so that when they get to grade 8 that it's not something that the burden falls strictly on our grade 8 uh instructors. And so um this is like brand new news, right? Brand new information. So we have a very limited slide of information for the civics um results, but you can see that in that first row across is how our students in Dartmouth did versus our students at the state. Um, and so as a whole, as a commonwealth, we certainly have some work to do um, in making sure that our students are able to reflect their knowledge of the civics's standards. So, um, there's a phrase that I I love a lot.

059We we say so what, now what, right? And so our results are what our results are. It's a snapshot in time. It's what our students did on those particular days. So, but the real work comes in the now what, right? So, that's what happened on those days. Those are the results. What do we do with them? And that's the real important thing when we start to talk about data analysis. Um, oh, sorry, I skipped a really important slide before I I got excited about what we're going to do, but we should probably talk about how Dartmouth does in comparison to some of our similar districts and those are our Dart schools. Um, I do just want to call out because I was reviewing this earlier today and I was like, wait a second, what is

060Carver doing that they have a 79 and 80 SGP? That is a typo. That is the number of students included in those columns. And while they still had a good SGP, it is not 79 and 80 because I was already on the phone like trying to find out what they were doing. But you'll see that [laughter] um Dartmouth really continues to hold its own in comparison to our our Dart schools. And as a reminder, our Dart schools, our schools that this Commonwealth um sees as comparative when you're talking either about enrollment or lowinccome or our students with disabilities or our ELLL, those are all those acronyms up the top or abbreviations. And so you'll see that really uh you know in ELA only Eastston outperformed our students in three to eight. Eastston is a is

061a district that we are aware of and we are talking to and they continue to right that's it's it's a goal. It's a reach for us and we're going to continue to kind of look at some of the things that they are doing over there um and you know figure out how we can replicate the things that we think might work here. Um, in math again, just Eastston and um, oh, Noset is for ELA as well, but just Eastston in math. And really, you know, I'm not going to go through them line by line, but Dartmouth has a lot to be very proud of. Um, our students are working very hard and compared to other districts that have similar similar demographics as us, we really continue to stand out and hold our own. So, now

062I'll talk a little bit about what we're doing with the information, right? So, it really becomes a five-step process. Um, this is the stuff that really kind of makes me excited when we talk about professional learning and when we talk about teaching and learning. It really kind of starts here, right? And so, we engage our schools in these data inquiry cycles. And so, this is happening at our school level. This is happening at our district level with some of our curriculum teams with um I was with Mrs. McHenry today looking at her her u presentation to give her team at Potter. And so we have to help our teachers to really dig in and understand this data. Um, and to my point earlier, right? So it's not just our third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers

063at the elementary level who are looking at MCCast data. Our kindergarten teachers are looking at it. Our first grade teachers are looking at it. They're seeing their place in what they're doing and how it grows into our tested grade levels. We look at trends, right? We look for patterns and trends across the district, across our schools, across our grade levels for things that pop up on what are things that we are doing exceedingly well. What are some things that the state is doing better than us? What are some standards that are not we're really just not holding our own on or what are some that we're doing really well and where do those live in our curricular materials? And that's goes right into aligning our curriculum and our resources. Um, also out of Mass Q,

064um, I am doing some work with Liz Vosce, who's one of our instructional technology specialists, to look at our MCCAST data, to look at our curriculum materials, to look at our standards, and, um, let the power of robots, let AI do some of that real deep crosswalk work that is very arduous and takes people a ton of time to do and computers can do in in a minute, right? And so really embracing the technology on how it can help us to analyze the data so that we can get to that now what point. It helps us with some of that so what it helps us with some of that problem of practice and some of the um root cause analysis so that we can get to the now what and what do we do next.

065Some of those things that we do next right we provide professional learning. We look at areas that we need to strengthen that we need to bolster and we support our students and our staff with professional learning around those areas. And really, we have to monitor our progress because again, this is one snapshot of time and it isn't the end- all beall. But if we look at some of our progress monitoring, if we look at some of our formative assessments that we're doing in our classrooms and on our assessment data from our our curricular materials, we should see patterns and trends over time and be able to really look at, you know, I always say when we get our MCCAST scores, it shouldn't be a big shock, right? We should know going into it how our

066students are performing. So, I always like to end on a high note. Um, and so as Dr. Sab Magcguire alluded to before, um, and as I said, there was a it was quite an emphasis placed this year on returning to prepandemic levels of achievement. And the state recognized 63 districts that have met or exceeded their 2019 achievement levels in math and or ELA in grades 3 through 8. And we are certainly unbelievably proud of our district to be one of those 63 um who has returned to prepandemic levels in math in grades 3 through eight. And so we certainly are um really appreciative of our elementary and middle school folks and the work that they've been doing over the last six years to continue to get our students where they need to be. And with

067that, I will take any questions that you have. PreK to 5. I'm just kidding. [laughter] >> Thank you very much. Um, we do have a lot to be proud of and >> we do. >> Yes. I um I know that we have a lot of new curriculum and what I'm hoping is we're going to see a bump >> in a year or two. >> Yeah. >> For those who are not meeting or partially meeting. >> Yeah. I I wholly agree with you and I am cautiously so unbelievably optimistic about um so our students who are this year's fifth graders are the students who started in kindergarten with bridges um and our third and fourth grade math scores if you want to disagregate some of that 3 to eight data I'm happy to sit and chat

068with anyone about it um our math scores in three and four from last year who are our students who started with bridges it looks really solid and for me what that means is that our students when we talk about that conceptual understanding piece. It's exactly what I was saying. This is not a burden of grades three through eight for testing. This this starts right from the minute they get into our schools and we talk about that horizontal and that vertical alignment, right? It's a trajectory. It's a journey. So, this is a reflection of where we are on that journey with our students, but it starts the minute they get in with us. So, I agree and I am also very cautiously optimistic that that's that trend will continue. >> That's great. Does anybody have any

069questions, comments? >> Mr. Well, thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Payo. Uh, one, do we have any Adam or have you been able to determine or has the state let us know? Do we have any ad Abigail, Adam, John, and Abigail Adam award winners this year? >> That's a high school question, Mr. News. Um, I'm going to say Dr. Sam McGuire, I believe we do. We have had many, many. >> Yes. >> No, no, don't. I'm I'm saying that tongue and cheek. And we've had we've had >> No, we definitely do. And actually, that's one of, you know, the things that we talk to families about is that taking the MCCAST, even though it's not a graduation requirement, as our students are preparing or their college applications, it's definitely something to highlight on your

070college application that you were, especially if you're going to a state school because as far as those awards are concerned, there's still uh there's still something that's monetarily attached to >> to that award. And so that has stayed in place and we definitely have a number of students who were recognized. I don't know the exact number offhand but certainly >> that's fine. Thank you. >> And my last question I and I my memory is any good from last year. Are we able to drill down on the questions that there were issues? Well, last year they didn't release any any questions and so um there are a limit there's a limited view of what you can really dig into. What you can do is dig in by standard, right? And so um you can we we

071do a this is obviously a pretty high level presentation and um but yes you can dig in um by standard. You can dig in by student. you can dig in um in that way that crossover like you can pull up I pulled up my daughters and I looked just at individual standards on sort of how she did so you can get really granular really go down a wormhole for a really long time and I know you're a numbers guy Mr. So, um, it's it's something that you can really Yes. dig pretty deep down into. >> Okay. Thank you. That's all I have. Thank you. Appreciate the presentation. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else? >> Hello. I guess >> you're up. >> Good evening. How are you? >> Hi. I'm very well, thank you. How are

072you? >> Good. Uh, great presentation. Uh, I think overall the district has a lot to be proud of. I I certainly agree uh what you presented as well as what was available in the Dart tool in comparing I think our SGPS as well as just our overall scores across across the board are are something to be proud of. So I'm I'm I'm cautiously optimistic as well. Um I know sometimes when you initiate new curriculum that there's sometimes can be a dip. Uh but overall I I I'm optimistic. So thank you. >> Thank you for the presentation. >> Thank you. >> Um so not directly related but um just thinking about how we can get kids more engaged in the 10th grade um because obviously not everybody is going to get a scholarship. But if there's

073something the school could do, schools could do to recognize people who had SGPS that increased so much so that you're not just rewarding the top performers in the CLA class, but >> anybody who's really putting in real effort if there's some way we could think to recognize them to help them. >> I I love that and it's actually something that we did um in my school when I was there is we recognize students with that high growth, right? Right. And so when we talk about growth, um 40 to 60 is considered typical growth. So we have a number of students who are showing high growth. Um we have a number of areas. You're all absolutely correct when you say we have a lot to be proud of. Um and so that certainly is an area

074that we will call out with our students who continue to really put the effort in and show the growth. And if I could just add because I think that was a great No, I think that was a a great recommendation and we're we're kind of still new to the 10th grade requirement changing and so recommendations like that or suggestions like that I think are really incredibly helpful and we will have conversation at the high school about ways where we can um recognize students who were [clears throat] putting in that the effort that our grades really three through nine students students always have because it's not just 10th grade students who have taken the test in the past. So, it really is about a shift in mindset. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> And next up,

075policies as >> Okay, >> back to me. So, um, first I'm just going to thank everyone who's contributed to the process of updating our policies and specifically Mr. Kylie, um, and our school committee policy subcommittee members, Mary Beck with, Kathy Lane Amarol. Thank you. Um, also other folks from, you know, who have helped to inform some of the policies we're going to talk about tonight, Dr. TBOT, Mrs. Denio is they've also had significant input in developing some of the updated policies that we'll talk about tonight. And I just also want to acknowledge that policy is not the most glamorous part of our work, right? And so while it's not glamorous, what we have found is it's important that we have updated policies. And I really do thank the subcommittee and Mr. Kylie for taking this

076on. We're in our second year. we're we're um getting through it, I think, in a really effective processoriented way. And at the same time, this evening, I'm going to present some of or update you as to where we are as a policy subcommittee. And I'm going to ask for the same thing Miss um Miss um Pavo just did, and that's a little grace in talking with um fluidity about policy. [laughter] So, I'm going to do my best. So, but thank you seriously to all and as usual, Mr. Kylie has set me up well to talk about this. But this evening we are going to talk about section D fiscal management. We're also going to talk about um section one instruction and section I mean section I instruction and section J students. And when we get

077to those I'll talk a little bit about why we're taking them in a different order. But we're going to start with of all things we're going to talk about fiscal management. Mr. Kylie's not here tonight, so I But I think we're we're okay. All right. So, as far as the I think the hardest part of this is this ready. Okay. Policy DA. Fiscal management goals. And so, our proposed revision to POS to fiscal management goals. Again, policy DA is just to revise so that it better aligns to the MASC model. And that is really what we've done. There's some differing language, but overall this mirrors what MASC has recommended with some um just maybe notice notable um notable revisions. Things like where it says achievement of the district purposes can best be achieved through it

078said excellent fiscal management. I think Mrs. Beckworth we decided that the word sound made better sense. So those are the kinds of um it might seem trivial but at the same time words do carry nuance and we want to get close to as what we mean in policy. And one of the things that I know and experience in going through this with the subcommittee is what we're really um I think trying to do is to streamline policy and make sure that policy that we're saying is pol policy is actually policy. And that's some of what you're seeing in some of these edits. So that is the recommendation for policy DA. I think I just go through all of them if I'm not mistaken. >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. So um policy DB is annual

079budget and the proposed revisions including changing his her to there and he she to they and removing reference to state policy and that is um policy DB. So for policy DBD that's budget planning and the proposed revision is to change the word children to students. >> So for a policy DBG >> we Oh sorry really DB >> DBJ >> budget transfer authority. >> Okay. Okay, I believe you even GBJ budget transfer authority is proposed revision again to better align with the MS MASC model and to change his or her to there. And then we have policy DD which is funding proposals and applications. And the proposed revision is to include grant procedures. Policy DI. Do you have policy DI in front of you? >> DFD is the next one. >> Oh, I know why. because

080we didn't make any revisions. So that's why. Yeah. Okay. All right. Sorry about that. Thank you. I told you there'd be a few little >> um hiccups. So the next one is DFD. Is that right? Okay. >> Yep. >> Let me get to DFD because I have >> H. All right. Just give me a minute. That's the gate receipts that you and I talked about to >> Dr. Okay. I've got another whole packet right here. >> Okay. >> Always have backups. Backups to the backups. All right. So, just let me make sure. DBJ DDI DFD. >> You got it. >> All right. Let me do this. All right. So, DFD is gate receipts and admissions and the proposed revision is to also add web- based purchases. policy DJ is oh we wait what >> di

081now >> it's one >> I think >> well >> we have different >> this is just one word >> all right so policy D >> I >> DI is is we're taking out found desirable and replacing it with appropriate >> Could I put a hold in Can we talk about it? >> Of course. >> I don't know if this is the appropriate time if you want to wait till the end. >> Oh, I'm fine. Whatever. >> Um, so my only question I'm fine with the language, but this just brings to mind, are we receiving quarterly financial statements? Have we ever received quarterly financial statements >> from the from the district as to because this says the school committee will receive quarterly financial statements from the superintendent showing the financial condition of the school department. The

082reason why I bring this up, this is has nothing to do with this administration. It's just down the road and where Whitman Hansen is right now. It's certainly >> I kind of thought that that's what you were going to say just then. Did you really? >> Yeah, >> I just happened to uh I've been following it and um I don't know. I I just I just would like to see make sure that um no big deal. I would just like to make sure that moving forward. >> Oh, okay. I I mean when when um I'll discuss that with Mr. Kylie. We've certainly talked about that and you know what sort of the reporting looks like here at the committee level. We haven't done that since I've been here, but that doesn't mean that's not something

083that we we could consider. And I know that Mr. Kylie and I have had this conversation and that he has agreed that that would be something. >> Yeah. And like I said, nothing to do with Mr. Understood. >> Uh Jim's fabulous. Um I have the utmost faith and trust. Um but Jim's not going to be here forever. And >> no, don't say such a thing. [laughter] Um, so I think it would just be nice to get into that habit, that routine. >> Okay. So we'll we'll discuss that. >> So [laughter] >> was a swear word. >> Oh, we we are we're at DJ >> DJ. Thank you. Which is purchasing uh propose revision to reference the school business official and change he she to they and change unit head to administrator. So again, some of

084this is just updating language to make it more current and relevant. All right. So now we have I don't know why my mine aren't aligning, but can I >> Great. >> DK. Okay. So now we have DK payment procedures which is the proposed revision is to change his or her to their DKC expense reimbursements and the proposed revision is to align the policy with the MASC model. So you'll see there's quite a bit of sort of red font in there but it's not new language. It's just language that has been revised to better reflect what MASC has put out as their model language. And then we have DM, which is cash in school buildings. Um, and really we've done a couple of things. One is that we have well, we've done one thing. We've changed

085the title. >> That's it. >> Yep. That's it. Cash in school buildings. It was expense reimbursements, but that was incorrect. So, we updated that and that is it for section D. >> Just Yep. >> All right. >> I think we're good. >> Okay. So, now I'll move on to section I instruction which is um policy IKF, graduation requirements. And the proposed revision is to update the graduation requirements which reflects the school committee vote on March 24th, 2025. And next is I KFE which is the competency determination policy title and that's the proposed new policy which reflects the school committee vote on January 27th, 2025. If you remember, we brought both of these changes to you last year after the again after question two, but what we didn't do was vote it in as policy. And

086so, we've brought that to the subcommittee and now to the full committee for your approval. So, that that would reflect as policy. And then finally, we have section J, which is students. Um and that is policy JKAA which is physical restraint prevention and behavior support. And this proposed revision is to better align with the Dartmouth public school practices in 603 CMR46. Uh part of the reason that we're looking at this now or decided to look at this now is we're reviewing all of our policies. We're in process of reviewing all of our policies, which I think were last reviewed somewhere back in maybe 20 >> 13. Um, so this is one of the ones that we decided that we needed to take a look at sooner rather than later because we are currently undergoing a

087special education review with Desi and Mrs. Denio and her team uh looked at that policy and thought that since we're now uh we're actually submitting these policies to to the DESIE team for their review that when we're looking at uh some of the policies and we recognize that there are some inaccuracies that we want to respond in in real time um as as those are are policies that are actually being assessed right now not only by us but by the Department of Education. So those are the policies before you this evening. >> Very good. So this is a first reading. Um any questions at this point? Yes, Mr. Nunes. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh just to go back to uh policy DFD, gate receipts and admissions. And I had this I had a conversation

088with the superintendent uh this afternoon on this and uh you know it talks about admission of school events shall be deposited with the town treasurer. You know I'm sitting here thinking about you know plays and concerts and school fundraisers and everything else. I mean, those monies, those funds do end up with the town treasurer, but they go through a student activity account or an athletic revolving account or a music re, you know, the music revolving account for the concession stand type of deal. Then they end up with the town treasurer. So, it, you know, it almost says that this money is going to directly go to the treasur instead of going through the process that it goes through >> type of deal. I'm just I and again please I'm >> well miss >> I'm not

089a wordssmith so but I'm just looking at this and saying you know somebody reading this is going to be may be a little bit confused >> so and we did have a conversation about that earlier and we agreed that we could take a second look at that this and bring it back to the committee with a revision idea. >> Sure. >> That's that was that was my only concern. So >> thank you Mr. Nes. >> No thank you. appreciate other followup. >> Great job. Follow up to that >> and forgive me for not knowing this, but all the student activity accounts, all the um all the different revolving accounts that are available, they are part of the towns the through the town treasurer. >> Yeah. Yeah. The only thing that's not through the town treasurer

090are the to my knowledge would be the u individual PTO accounts. >> Gotcha. Which that makes sense because they're not Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> So, we'll follow up. >> Thank you, ma'am. >> Thank you. >> Great. >> Thank you. Um, so next up is the superintendent's evaluation. We had a subcommittee of Miss Amarill and Mr. Nunes. Um, would you guys like to share the evaluation? >> Motion to approve. [laughter] >> Uh, I think we need a little more than that. >> A little bit more than that. Yeah, that's fine. I I was just trying. I'm sorry. [laughter] I'm being I'm just being I apologize. Uh, thank you, Madam Chair, and you know, my thanks to everyone on the committee for uh their input. Uh thank you to my thanks to Kathleen who uh

091you know compiles everything because of my fantastic computer skills. So uh but I do I do appreciate that. So and you know thank you for uh Dr. Sab Magguire for being uh considering we're one meeting late with this but Murphy's law is always takes hold. So it is what it is. This is uh the end of cycle. This is you know some seven eight pages and such. And just a little bit of a background this is something that the uh department of education has put out. uh there are a number of goals and such uh and performances and it is you know it's you know did not meet some progress significant progress met and exceeds and as we go through this um and I know I said this last year and I'm a broken record

092we're a broken record I apologize and but just you know as the training course that I took a number of years ago when this came out uh when Desi came down. You know, the thing you have to be very careful of is always evaluating the superintendent as exceeds expectations because, you know, you're almost sitting there and saying there's nothing else he or she can do. You know, they're they're at the top of their game. They're doing everything absolutely perfect. And then all of a sudden if they have a hiccup and they go from exceeds to meeting expectations, it's like okay what happens and you're trying to scramble to come up with and what happened and you know give uh explanations to and such. So uh you know we've done that and we go there and

093this is this is a summarative of all the uh everybody that put together. There were a couple of instances that uh exemplary was there but it was not enough to record an exemplary per se. So that's that's how we Kathleen and I went through this. Uh so let me go through this uh under professional practice. And by the way again this has to be done in open session. This is and this is you know once if this is approved tonight this becomes part of her personnel file type of deal. So uh under professional practice goals uh we have met uh student learning goals was met district improvement goals were met. Okay. Under step two which is assesses performance on standards uh and such under instructional leadership uh leadership was proficient under management and operations. We

094have two >> proficient. >> Oh, proficient. >> Yeah. What's proficient? >> Okay. Well, you'll see a little sneaky. >> You can Yeah, there's a little sneaky in there. We got to fix. I just noticed that. Uh under and we went through this. >> That was my computer. >> That's okay. [laughter] Under family and community engagement was proficient under professional culture also proficient. uh overall step three overall substantive performance based on step one and two of the ratings she was proficient uh comments that committee members put in uh Dr. Jun Saber Maguire is a strong leader whose performance has resulted in significant measurable progress across the Dartmouth public school district. Her leadership is defined by exemptional strength in systematic management and operational excellence which has provided the stable efficient foundation necessary to execute the district's ambitious

095new strategic plan. She has ensured the district maintained flawless compliance with all state and federal regulations, including chapter 70 requirements and specialed mandates, minimizing district risk and maintaining public trust. I would rate her as proficient overall for her summitative evaluation. I look forward to continuing our work together. Uh another comment in that category, Dr. Sabre Maguire has shown herself to be data-driven, ethically motivated, child-focused superintendent who is getting things done. the vision of one Dartmouth. She is implementing our mission of cultivating a safe, supportive, and inclusive learning environment that empowers all students to become compassionate, informed, and contributing members of our local and global community. She shares the vision and the mission every day in effective communication, fiscal management, and support of our educators, staff, families, and caregivers. So, that's that. Uh under let's see

096what do we got here? Superintendent performance goals. It says superintendents must identify at least one smart learning goal, one professional practice goal and two to four district improvement goals. Goals should be smart and that's a capital S m and align to at least one focus indicator from the standards for effective administrative leadership. Uh under the student learning goals, um it says increase access for all students to highquality educational material in alignment with district strategic plans resulting in increased growth and achievement for all students using multiple measures and that was met. Professional practice goal. enhance my data analysis, instructional leadership, and strategy development skills by actively engaging in the new I'm sorry, my fault, in the work of the new superintendent induction program, networking with superintendent colleagues, and collaborating with my superintendent coach, and that was

097met. Uh district improvement goal one. By May of 2025, Dartmouth public schools will be fully engaged in implementing the 2024 through 2029 strategic plan in alignment with the proposed timeline outlined in the plan and that was met. Strategic improvement goal two. Uh sharing responsibility. It says the plan will present it to the one community, the one Dartmouth community in a variety of forums to build a communitywide understanding of the mission, vision, core values, theories of actions, focus area, objectives, initiatives, and action steps. And that was met under excuse me under superintendent performance rating for standard one instructional leadership. uh curriculum ensures that all instructional staff design effective and rigorous standardsbased units of instruction consisting of well ststructured lessons with measurable income outcome I'm sorry and that's proficient 1B instruction ensure that practice in all settings

098reflect high expectation regardless of the content and quality of effort of work engage all students and are personalized to accommodate diverse learning learning styles, needs, interest, and levels of readiness. And that was proficient assessment. Ensure that all principal and administrators facilitate practices that propel personnel to use a variety of formal and informal methods and assessments to measure student learning, growth, and understanding, and make necessary adjustments to their practice when students are not learning. and that was proficient evaluation ensures effective and timely supervision and evaluation of all staff in alignment with state regulation and contract provisions and that was proficient uh data in informed the decision making excuse me use multiple sources of evidence related to student learning including state district and school assessment to result in growth data to inform school and district goals and

099improve organizational performances, educator effectiveness and student learning and that was proficient and the overall rating for standard one was proficient. Some comments that were made Dr. Saba Maguire has demonstrated strong leadership in introducing high quality evidence-based instructional material into our schools including CKLA and Carnegie Math. She has led and supported the piloting of several new curricula at all levels. She recognizes and she recognizes and supports professional development for teachers to improve effectiveness and data drives her decisions for per superintendent's performance rating standard two management and operations uh under environment develops and executes effective plans procedures routines and operational systems to address a full range of safety health emotional and social needs that was proficient human resources management and development implement a cohesive approach to recruit recruiting hiring induction development and career growth that promotes high

100quality and effective practices that was proficient scheduling and management information uses systems to ensure optimal use of data and time for teaching learning and collaboration minimizing disruption and distraction actions for school level staff. That was proficient laws, law, ethics and policies, understands and complies with state and federal laws and mandates school committee policies, collective bargaining agreements and ethical guidelines and now is proficient fiscal systems. Develop a budget that supports the district's vision, mission, and goals. allocates and manages expenditures consistent with district and school level goals and available resources and that was proficient and the overall rating for that was proficient. Uh some comments that were made uh Dr. Sable Maguire oversees a tight budget which moves our district vision mission and goals forward as evidenced by the budget subcommittee. Communication is her focus and her

101strength. She communicates a shared vision clearly and she is able to get others on board. She is a big picture oriented but able to bring it down to a manageable chunk. She goals she's goal directed and intentional in all efforts. She's future focused but deals with immediate needs and crisis very well. She has been transparent with unions. This is attributed to her ability to make process less adversarial than in the past during which she has paid attention to regulations and laws and she is involved in policy revision. The uh then we have superintendent's performance rating for standard 3 family and communities uh 3A engagement actively ensures that all families are welcome members of the classroom and school community and can contribute to the effectiveness of the classroom school district and community and that was proficient

102sharing responsibility continually collaborates with families and community stakeholders to support student learning and development. ment at home, school, and in the community. And that was proficient communication engages in regular two-way culturally proficient communication with families and community stakeholders about student learning and performances. That was proficient. Family concerns addresses family and community concerns in an equitable, effective, and efficient manner. And that was proficient. and the overall rating for that category was proficient. Uh some comments that were made. Dr. Sabre Maguire engages our school families and larger community with strong communication skills as evidenced by her letters to families, strategic plan presentations to PTO's and community at large. She communicates with families through multiple means including forum, letters, parent square, updates on the website and engages with the community through town meeting and her attendance at student

103events. In writing and orally, she is clear and concise. She leads with authenticity and is she is very caring. Professional standard 4 student uh sorry superintendent performance rating for standard four professional culture uh 4A commitment to high standards fosters a shared commitment to high standards of service teaching and learning with high expectations and achievement for all. And that was proficient. Cultural proficiency ensures that students and practices enable staff members and students to interact effectively and culturally diverse environment in which students backgrounds, identities, strength and challenges are respected. That was proficient. Communication demonstrates strong interpersonal written and verbal communication skills. That was proficient. Continuous learning. developed and nurtures a culture in which staff members are reflective about their practice and use student data, current research, best practice, and a theory to continually adapt practices and achieve

104improved results. Models these behaviors in his or her own practice, and that was proficient. Shared vision successfully and continually engages all stakeholders in the creation of a shared educational vision in which every student is prepared to succeed in post-secary education and become a responsible citizen and global contributor and that was uh proficient. Managing conflict employs strategy for responding to disagreements and disscent constructively resolving conflict and building consensus throughout the district or school committee. That was proficient and the overall rating for professional culture was proficient. Uh couple of comments made. Dr. Sabre Maguire effectively connects our actions in the Dartmouth public schools to our shared vision of one Dartmouth and the implementation of the district strategic plan. At every school committee meeting, the she highlights what is going on in our district and aligns it to

105the focus areas. Dr. Sabre Maguire manifests our core values. Personal excellence and responsibility, respect for self and others, inclusiv inclusivity, equity and belonging, diverse opportunities, and ethical commitments. She is a strong communicator as is as evidenced by her convocation speech in August of 2024, her letters to faculty in September of 24, and to families in October and November of 2024, and one-on-one meetings. She demonstrates high standards for herself and others. She rewards good works, such as through the Green Apple Awards, which recognize achievements. She holds everyone to high standards and she can build trust through open honest communication and by providing data to back up what she is saying. And that my committee members and to the general public is the evaluation of Dr. June Sabre Maguire is compiled. >> Thank you Mr. Nunes. Um

106>> does anyone have any comments before we get a motion to approve? Does she have any comments? >> I just a couple of things that that I would say. I had to remember myself that this was last year's evaluation, not this year's. So that puts me in good place for exemplary for [laughter] for next year because I like all educators are always striving to meet exemplary standards and that certainly has not changed um in the course of my career and certainly not since I've been here. I'm always humbled um more by the comments than by the ratings themselves because um you know it's awkward to listen to people say nice things about you and it was actually the core of my convocation speech this past year about saying thank you when somebody says something in

107a way that appreciates the work you do but so I thank you and at the same time please know that I'm also humbled by the work that I do here every day in Dartmouth and I'm extremely committed as I think you know to this community and this school community. I also want to say that like everything that you've talked about is like it's not it's not my show, right? I I have a team around me um including the central office team that I work with every day, the principles, the school leaders, um the teachers that are out there doing our work every day. everybody from, you know, again, our custodial staff, our food service staff, our ESPs, our lunch monitors. I mean, when you think about the number of people that it takes to support

108a school district of over 3,000 students, you know, it's it's a pretty monumental task and that can't be done by any single person. But what my responsibility is as a superintendent is to do the best job that I can to provide the team. When I say team, I mean all of those people because we're all part of that one Dartmouth team. Um to again strive for and I say this humbly and at the same time competitively for continuous improvement. Um, so I won't back off of that, but I totally um, you know, again, appreciate the support that I have when I say team, what team I didn't talk about is this team, and that's the school committee team. And so I listened earlier to families come up or a couple of parents come up and

109talk about the support they need from [clears throat] this committee. And I can say unequivocally that this is an incredibly supportive school committee. and I am thankful to work alongside you. So that's it. And thank you. >> Thank you. >> Do I have a motion? >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> I guess I just made the second. I've never done that. I'll make a second. Fine. I'll I'll second it. >> I can second. >> Um so motion by Mr. Oliver, second by Mr. Non to accept the evaluation of the superintendent. All those in favor say I. >> I. I I >> opposed. None. Unanimously passes. >> Okay. >> Thank you all. And now let's just swing into the superintendent's update. >> Right back to me. You've heard a lot of me tonight from

110me. So, as always though, we're always pleased to share our update with the committee and the community about what is going on in the Dartmouth schools. And as usual, we will touch on the strategic plan. a few things I already talked about. Um, but I just will uh just reiterate that under teaching and learning, we really are truly focused in the job embedded professional development and recognizing that that's really how we can best support our teachers in real in action. Uh just this past week, I would mention that the Dartmouth High School lead teacher team kicked off uh what we hope is going to be a really strong year-long professional learning strand um with uh an out with a consultant that we've worked with actually with teaching learning alliance. Her name is Cynthia Smith. And

111this work is important because it's focusing on instructional leadership and coaching. And how do we get the folks that really are sitting there in those seats as lead teachers? How do we give th those folks even the kind of professional development and ongoing coaching that they need to be able to have that kind of highlevel impact that we want for our teachers and our teacher leaders. I already mentioned CKLA so I won't talk about that but I do want to say that I was able to get out into some of the classrooms uh during the week. Uh Mrs. Pavo was out there every day uh right alongside with that with the consulting and meeting with the teams across the district. And I really am so truly impressed with the teachers and with how they have

112taken on this curriculum in a way that when you walk into classrooms right now, you can see the impact that teaching and that that is happening uh related to teaching and learning in real time. And I know a couple of our committee members have been out into classrooms and have seen this for themselves. Uh I'm not saying again that everything's perfect, but what we do hear largely from our teachers is how incredibly engaged the kids are. And as a matter of fact, just one of our parents who spoke tonight talked about how his daughter is coming home and talking about the curriculum and talking about the content and she's incredibly excited about what she's learning in school every day. And that's what we want. We want our students and our teachers to be excited about

113teaching and learning because there is supposed to be joy in the classroom. and we're happy to see when that really is taking root in real time. Uh but positive feedback I'm going to mention because I know that there's talk about it uh that grades have come out at Dartmouth High School. I think they came out this past Friday. They were submitted. Um and I know that we have uh tried or the high school has implemented uh new grading practices, not a policy. they've implemented new grading practices. Just so we're clear, the only folks that can set policy in the school district is this governing body. So, there's a difference between practice and policy. And I think sometimes we use those words interchangeably um and not, you know, on purpose, but it just happens. But these

114are, this is a change in practices. This is the first year of implementation. There's leeway this year. We're working through it. Changing something like this is no different than implementing a new curriculum. It whenever you're changing something, it's going to come with some challenges along the way. Um, one of the things that I would remind us all of is that this is actually part of the Dartmouth High School school improvement plan and that was presented publicly. And you can see if you go back and look at their school improvement plan and back to um I think uh presentations from last year, you'll see that the high school team did talk about this. Uh that being said, it's going to take time for folks to get used to it and for practices to become more comfortable

115for people and for consistency. Uh the other thing that I just happened again and this is very preliminary level but I did ask uh Dr. T-Bolt to look at grades for me today and to look at grades from this year as opposed to last year and to um give me and actually he was able to do it and to provide me with that information. And overall our students grades are our students in grades 9 through 12 their grades are higher across the board um and there are fewer failures. And so that was really uh at the heart of some of the discussion that you heard about grading policy, grading practice at the high school. And what you can't help it, but what I have um asked the school high school team to do is to

116come here before the committee in the coming at a coming school committee meeting and to give uh an update in an overall presentation about where we are with grading practices at Dartmouth High School. But I'm really pleased to say that it looks like this the teachers and the students overall I'm not saying they're on challenges but overall student grades are looking really strong here at Dartmouth High School. Um so budget capital improvement um HR uh budget I did we meet after the MSBA vote because I I don't think we did. So I because I wanted to highlight that. Um it didn't come up tonight already, but I do think that it's something that we should celebrate. Um so obviously we know that town meetings supported us and I would say they overwhelmingly supported us in

117moving forward with the $250,000 for the feasibility study. And that was anticipation of an MSBA vote, which I know the committee is aware that the MSBA board did vote to support the Dartmouth High School roof project. So, we'll be moving forward with the feasibility study. Um, you'll be hearing more about that as we hear because it is a process. And then there'll be the next steps, right? There are next steps coming. We will be hopefully with the committee's approval. Um, we'll be moving forward on submitting a statement of interest for new school. I mean, that would be something that we're going to talk about and we'll be talking about it before the end of this year. So, those are some really big, I think, items under budget and capital improvement that we should be celebrating.

118And again, Mr. Kylie's not here, but I really thank him for his hard work and I believe really um just positioned us really well to be supported by MSBA. On HR front, I mean, we're still we still face ongoing challenges and it's really around the critical positions in special education. Mrs. Denio has I know been out there trying to recruit. She's found uh some people for some key support positions and has done a really good job. She's tireless in her efforts and I thank her and Mrs. Redlong because I know they're out there really working uh toward finding the right candidates for these really important positions. So, uh, under safe and supportive schools, we talked already earlier about, um, you know, something here at the high school and how our safe and supportive school teams

119really came into action. Uh, but we've also now expanded the vape dete detectors. Uh there are more of them in the building right now and we are still working with our admin team to come up with the best plan of action to how to respond to uh vape uh acts of vaping um at school in a way that's not only going to be preventative but uh also make it really clear to students that that's not acceptable behavior in school. uh again crucial foundational uh I think uh um commitment and you have done a great job in in really supporting us. So I will also mention for Mr. Paratt you some of you saw his video last at our last committee meeting there is a link on the website to it. Well, Dartmouth [clears throat] High

120School, if you remember, they were going the team was going the I think the next night to Brainree for the award ceremony, and they have indeed won the top statewide honors. They won the grand prize and the Mass Dot Safe Street Smart Trips High School video contest [laughter] for their very original short film, Coach P's Walk to School class. If you haven't seen it, give it a look. It's not that long and it is quite entertaining. [snorts] >> Um, so under family and community engagement, I mentioned earlier communication is key. We have begun the process as of I as I said of getting out into PTO meetings and we want to make sure that all stakeholders here we here where we are. I I want to mention to you that a number of people from

121the community have commented to me on our presentation at the select board meeting. So it was interesting to me that people connected the work of schools to the presentation that when we were invited to the select board meeting, people from outside >> the school community, which was nice because that is also a community we really need to connect with. Uh, and I think that's important. As a matter of fact, I think it's this this Friday, the cheerleaders are going to the Council on Aging to engage in the line dancing with our seniors. And then I just also want to thank Cody Hadad and Gary Carrero. You heard Mr. Silva mention that ongoing [snorts] uh collaboration. Mr. Kylie and I met with them this past week. We are planning quarterly meetings and it's really a great

122time for us to have ongoing dialogue about needs of our schools, how it fits into the ongoing needs of the community and for us to be establishing important relationships as we go into not just budget season but we are entering budget season and so we'll that will be the focus of a lot of what we talk about in the coming months. Um, so I thank you for, you know, your your commitment to supporting us and um very grateful to have this committee and we'll continue to work on continuous improvement. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Great update. Um, I will say I had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Thomas at the Quinn School today and see CKLA in action. and I did see Joy and I saw caring um and throughout their other classes.

123Um it was a great visit. Um, I also wanted to mention that last Wednesday a number of us went to New Bedford Greater Votech and we had a great informational session and tour um heard how they're using AI in some interesting ways and uh ways that they're thinking of bringing in or allowing students to access their programs who might not have won the lottery. um but could still access um Fair Haven is in a trial um phase with that and maybe it's something we will consider. Um but I thought it was it was great and other people from um the Dartmouth government were there. >> Do you mind if I just add one thing [clears throat] to that that I meant to mention? Uh but yes, Cody Hadad was there. Uh we had some conversation

124with him and I had some conversation afterwards and we talked about the idea of working with the school committee and with other town officials to set up a day hopefully in January. We have some dates that we'll be sharing with you where we do something similar here at Dartmouth High School that we did at um Greater New Bedford Tech. Not I mean most people know Dartmouth High School but at the same time we thought we would maybe do a school visit here then go to the middle school and then one of our neighboring communities and um go take a look at one of the newer schools that's been built to start to build some understanding around why it's important that we're paying attention right now to our facilities. So you'll be hearing more about that.

125Excellent. >> Great. Um, so I also didn't know if people were aware both in the greater community and here on the committee that uh the state is uh looking for comments and feedback on the formula for chapter 70 as they're thinking to rework it. And I think um you know voices should be heard and um I'm just going to say that there is an in-person session in Lakeville November 19th and there's a virtual session uh November 18th. >> Um just putting it out there and >> and Mr. Kylie will be at the [clears throat] November 19th >> 19th in Lakeville. >> Um and I'm planning to go. >> Yeah. >> Um and then just >> I'm out of town. of it feels. >> Okay. Um and coming up this week, um number of us will

126be going to the mass mas conference and looking forward to that. And is there any comments from anybody else? >> Yeah, I got I just got one, you know, and I know uh Miss C and uh Mr. Oliver Oliver were here type of deal about the band. So that was great. And uh long weekend for the kids. That's no doubt about it. They got back here just about 10 o'clock last night. And on a serious note, thank you to uh Fire District 2 and also the Dmouth Police Department for an escort that they gave him in from Fawns Connor Road. So that was that was appreciated. The kids appreciated that. Uh the uh the cheerleaders had a competition this past weekend and they came out uh in first place up at Bridgewater Reum. So, now

127they're on to the regionals this coming week. I think Sunday. I'm not sure where, but I'll I'll keep tab keep tabs on them. And uh our football team is back home uh Friday night at six o'clock against Plymouth South. So, hope to see everybody there. >> Dress warm. >> Anybody else? >> No. No. >> Okay. Um, our next regular session meeting for the school committee is scheduled for [clears throat] Monday, December 8th, 2025 at 6 p.m. to be held here at the Dartmouth High School Library Media Center. >> Do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. Second. >> Motion by Mr. Oliver, second by Mr. Non. All in favor? We don't do a roll call? >> No. Just >> All in favor? I >> I. >> Anybody opposed? I don't think so. >>

128Happy Thanksgiving. Wow. Thank you so much. I know.